SciDev.Net

I would like to thank Professor Nayfeh for his great efforts to stimulate the development process in the Arab world (see The Muslim diaspora - from brain drain to brain gain?). However, it seems that Arab and Muslim scientists in the West have been influenced by the free and democratic academic atmosphere and by policies designed to enhance science-based development there.

This influence is clear in many of the analyses and solutions proposed for the Islamic world by scientists in the West. They don't see — or they ignore — the dominant effect of our political systems.

I think that development is a simple, political decision taken at the government level. In the Arab world, the decision is always limited by what Western countries allow. There will be rapid progress once we own our decisions. Dubai is a clear example of economic and management development, but we can't see any signs of a scientific revolution there since it is simply another market for Western products and ideology.