| dc.description.abstract | The importance of this book arises in light of the increasing levels of complexity, interconnection, and interactivity among global economic, social, environmental, and technological variables and trends—particularly the intricate interactions that directly impact the state of sustainable development in various countries around the world, especially Arab nations.
This type of complexity and interconnectedness presents various challenges to decision-makers and public policy-makers in different countries, particularly in developing and Arab countries. These challenges require new approaches and methodologies to understand, interpret, anticipate, and manage them through a comprehensive, holistic, and developmental perspective offered by systems thinking and its tools.
In this context, and given the scarcity of Arabic-language knowledge resources in the field of systems thinking and its applications to support Arab sustainable development, the significance of this book becomes clear. It is the result of fruitful scientific collaboration between leading national research institutions—represented by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology and the National Institute for Planning—on the one hand, and an effective research partnership between these institutions and a renowned international institute in systems analysis: the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). This collaboration led to the establishment of the North Africa Applied Systems Analysis Center (NAASAC) in 2021.
This book represents one of the products of the North Africa Center for Applied Systems Analysis, aimed at maximizing the anticipated impact of systems analysis applications in addressing development issues in general, and sustainable development challenges in particular. The book seeks to make systems analysis knowledge and tools accessible to researchers, practitioners, policymakers, government leaders, business executives, thought leaders, think tanks, and relevant academic and research institutions across the Arab world.
It also aims to highlight the importance of systems thinking in supporting sustainable development—globally and in the Arab region—by analyzing models and case studies of systems thinking tools and methods applied to sustainable development in various developed and developing countries. The book monitors and analyzes best practices and key lessons learned from the application of systems analysis in supporting decision-making and policy formulation across the world, especially models that involved United Nations agencies, economic and political blocs such as the OECD and the European Union, in addition to contributions from research centers, think tanks, and academic institutions working in systems analysis globally and in the Arab region.
The global and regional applications showcased in this book provided valuable insights for the research team to adapt and tailor some of the key experiences, suggested mechanisms, and diverse alternatives to localize and integrate systems thinking cultures and practices into the formulation of Arab sustainable development policies—whether within responsible planning agencies, relevant governmental institutions, business organizations, think tanks, or Arab academic and research institutions.
The book’s team consisted of a group of multidisciplinary experts in strategic planning, development management, computer science, mathematics, modeling, knowledge and data management—mainly from the National Institute for Planning. Most team members actively participated, as both trainers and trainees, in the various programs implemented by the North Africa Applied Systems Analysis Center between 2021 and 2023. | |
