Contractualism : partnership in development

and a motivator for the middle class

M. Khaled Mahjoub

This lecture is somehow different than the classical lectures of the Syrian economic society. The lecture is structured as a “brainstorming session” where the lecturer tries to attract the attention of the attendees through the presentation of several ideas. These ideas are portrayed as simple, easy to implement, and eventually very efficient.

Among these ideas, we can find a strong focus on the subject of connecting education with the practical life. There is also a very strong focus on the need of creating a profitable strategic partnership between the employees and their management in private and public sector companies and establishments. The main goal of this partnership would be to increase salaries the of the employees and improve their revenue. This increase should be linked directly to the success of the marketing and exportation policies in order to avoid the eventual inflation. The success of this partnership will rehabilitate the middle class and bring it back to its role as a motor of the economy; a role which has been largely diminished during the recent years.

The lecturer starts his lecture by presenting three major axes or “action plans”:

· Suggesting several original ideas in most of the domains in order to resolve the actual problems and improve the efficiency of these domains.

· Abandoning old recipes and ideas which cannot be developed anymore and which cannot be useful or profitable.

· Development and improvement of some old ideas which are still in harmony with the current and future goals and targets.

The lecturer emphasizes that we should not rely on the government alone to implement these action plans, and that the responsibility of bringing these plans to reality is shared. Actually, the role of the government is described during the lecture as “insuring a fair competitive environment and key elements of success, without guaranteeing the results”.

Mr Mahjoub tries during his presentation to show that the principle of contractualism was not foreign to the Syrian society and culture, but rather inherent to them. Therefore, calling for the adoption of this system as a basis for business relationship should not be met with skepticism.

The presentation is full of different examples about the implementation of the action plans, where the principle of contractualism can be applied with an eventual success. One example is the application of a “single wicket” system at customs, to be used by the industrials who import raw materials for manufacturing purpose. The clients at this wicket would then pay a certain sum against the use of this service. That sum would be shared between the customs employees, a national fund for employees who work in places where such ideas cannot be applied, and the inspectors who are responsible for the monitoring and the evaluation of the work of this wicket and its efficiency.

The common element among these examples and ideas is the need to fight the tendency to accumulate passive wealth and capital such as gold and silver jewels and real estate; but rather invest these money in projects which will be profitable for the country and its people. Mr Mahjoub insists as an industrial on the importance of this “shift of interest”, as it is the only way to create a new dynamic for the Syrian economy, which will allow it to eventually join the rank of modern and developed economies.