Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations, represented by its General Manager Prof. Dr. Mohsen Mohammad Saleh, participated in a two-day seminar, entitled Public Policy and Research in the Arab World: Pre and Post Uprising.
It was organized by the Consortium of Arab Policy Research Institutes (CAPRI) at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) at the American University of Beirut (AUB).
On the first day, the first panel discussed the PRI mapping in the pre-2011 landscape, i.e., who they are, where they are and what they do. How do PRIs see their role and what are the common challenges and opportunities were also discussed.
The second panel examined if the political factors define or constrain the ability of PRIs to impact policy in the Arab world. Whereas, the third panel studied the funding of PRIs, and how it affects their agendas.
On the second day, the panels discussed how should PRIs respond to the uprisings, can PRIs more efficiently impact policy-making through collaboration and what should the role of PRIs be post-uprisings. The last session was a roundtable discussion to explore the anticipated role of PRIs during post-uprisings period.
Dr. Mohsen commented that this seminar was timely and important. He added that the discussions were fruitful, and could establish the ground for a better interaction of the PRIs with the Arab uprisings, in the fields of policy making, insuring smooth, transparent and democratic transition of power; besides avoiding setbacks that may lead to chaos, ethnic and sectarian conflicts, or reproducing corrupted political systems.
Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations, 11/5/2011
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