Research Paper on Printing Industry

Printing in the Gulf Arab States

Research questions 

Historically, the Gulf Arab states were characterized by their uniqueness and difference from other civilizations that developed in the neighboring regions. The development of the Gulf Arab states was considerably affected by the peculiarities of the local culture, traditions and customs as well as by the national politics and economic development. At the same time, it is worthy of mention that the uniqueness of the region was, to a significant extent determined by its position since the Persian Gulf was always a strategically important region which played a significant role in politics and economy of the entire continent since, traditionally, this region is viewed as a bridge between Western and Eastern civilizations.

 

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Naturally, such a situation could not affect the development of the Gulf Arab states and nowadays it is obvious that they are dramatically affected by their historical heritage and their culture and traditions still play a very important role in practically all spheres of life. No wonder that the national economies as well as politics are also influenced by these socio-cultural peculiarities of the region. Moreover, it is even possible to estimate that all branches and industries of the national economies are also influenced by the national traditions and peculiarities.

In such a situation, on analyzing the development of printing in the Gulf Arab states, it would be logical to wonder whether these peculiarities and uniqueness of the region affected printing or probably this industry develops absolutely independently. In such a context another question arises whether the local printing is affected by the Western ideology and trends since, it is not a secret that in the result of the process of globalization, the world gradually becomes more and more westernized. Furthermore, it is also necessary to clearly define the extent to which the local culture, especially religion, does really affect printing.

At the same time, it is also important to analyze the current relationship between companies and printing industry at large and the state since historically, the role of the state was very significant in the Gulf Arab states and even nowadays there exist countries where the monarch may define the development of the entire country as well as certain industries, according to his will, while there are also undemocratic regimes which may be characterized as authoritarian or even totalitarian like the former-regime in Iraq created by Saddam Hussein, since these regimes also tend to the establishment of the total control over printing industries and companies operating in this field.

Also, the problem of the authorship needs to be discussed since the printing industry had actually some material to print. In this respect, it is necessary to define the role of the local producers, or authors, in the printing industry, especially in comparison to foreign sources of printing material.

Finally, it is necessary to define the perspectives of the development of printing in the Gulf Arab states since it is obvious that this industry cannot remain unchanged in the modern world not only because of the process of globalization but also under the impact of the rapid development of new technologies, especially IT, which may affect dramatically the development of printing industry.

Literature review 
On analyzing the literature focused on the printing industry in the Gulf Arab states and the problems of its development, it is primarily necessary to point out that the specialists working in this field are basically quite optimistic in their assessment of the industry and its perspectives in the Gulf Arab states. First of all, it should be said that specialists1 underline that the development of printing is a natural process and it may be particularly successful in the Gulf Arab states which historically were conservative and perceived printing as the major source of information. In fact, it should be said that printing has been the mainstream media in the Gulf Arab states and nowadays its position is still quite strong.

At the same time, it is necessary to underline that printing was quite popular in the Gulf Arab states and its popularity grew proportionally to the need of population in the acquisition of the broader knowledge as well as it served as an effective medium of spreading the ideology typical for this region at large and for each state in particular. In this respect, it should be said that printing industry may be viewed as a mirror reflecting all the changes in the political and socio-economic life of the Gulf Arab states. In fact, the printing media and industry were always under the control of or, at least, could be influenced by the state2. This means that the printing industry had to serve to the interests of the ruling elite and its policy and the information delivered to customers was often biased.

It is possible to draw the example of Iraq under the rule of Saddam Hussein when the entire printing industry was just a part of the great machine totally controlled by the state and this machine may be called propaganda. It is a well-known fact that the epoch of Saddam Hussein was the epoch of the severe dictatorship when the basic civil rights and liberties were oppressed and many people were simply repressed because of their beliefs. In such a situation, it is hardly possible to underestimate the role of printing industry and print media in the creation and promotion of such a regime because, to a significant extent, it is due to the printing industry, the population of Iraq was simply bombarded, figuratively speaking, with the ideology promoting the regime of Saddam Hussein as the only one that is really acceptable to Iraqi population and, what is more, which is the only one that can bring Iraqi people prosperity and better life3.

Naturally, such a pressure on printing industry and print media is unacceptable to western countries but in the Gulf region such a situation is not rare. This is why many specialists4 stress the fact that the role of the state in the control over the printing industry is often quite substantial and, historically, the freedom of print media was substantially limited by the state that actually created numerous obstacles to the development of the democracy in the region and deteriorates the position of the local population. Moreover, this also contributes to certain economic backwardness of the Gulf Arab states in the result of the oppression of basic civil rights and liberties and the lack of democracy in these states because this inevitably leads to the deterioration of the economic situation. Obviously, in such conditions the economy cannot develop normally, from the western point of view, since this prevents the countries from the effective implementation of the open market economy. The latter naturally prevents the development of a really competitive environment but, instead, the protectionist policy may be crucial for the commercial success in the Gulf Arab states. In such a situation, the printing industry is also affected dramatically since the printing industry is also dependent on the policy of the state and, therefore, susceptible to protectionist trends that means the lack of competition and lower quality of production5.

At the same time, it is also necessary to underline that the regular interference of state into the development and functioning of the printing industry also prevents the companies operating in the market of the Gulf Arab states from the real freedom in their production since they cannot always create products that are popular in other countries or that could be potentially popular in the local market but, instead, they are traditionally, forced to take into consideration the position of state, at least, many specialists underline that this trend was traditionally strong in the Gulf Arab states6.

On the other hand, it is necessary to remember about the local cultural traditions and religious beliefs which may also affect the printing industry dramatically. Specialists estimate that, historically, the development of the printing industry in the Gulf Arab states was influenced by the local traditions, religious beliefs and even the position of religious leaders of the countries7. It should be said that the peculiarity of the local culture and deep-rooted Islamist views which dominates in the region also considerably limits the liberty of the printing industry and print media in the Gulf. To put it more precisely, any criticism of the religious views of the local population or local leaders, any efforts to represent the dominant religion of the region and its cultural position from a multicultural point of view or from a critical point of view traditionally came across a strong opposition from the local religious institutions and specialists in theology. Obviously, such a situation did not stimulated the development of the diversity within the printing industry that often led to the high level of subjectivity of print media and print products created in the Gulf Arab states8.

No wonder, that some specialists argue that the local printing industry was traditionally characterized by the high level of isolationism9. This means that the isolationism or, in fact, it was rather an imposed isolation of the printing industry in the Gulf Arab states, was a naturally consequence of the uniqueness of these countries and their trend to distant from the international integration. The efforts to preserve local culture and traditions made these countries quite rigid and sometimes hostile to innovations and acceptance of new ideas10. As a result, the local printing industry became a kind of hostage since, as a rule, the local companies could not freely issue the products they could create or that were popular in other countries but which were strange to the local culture and traditions.

At the same time, it is worthy of mention that print media were traditionally perceived as the mainstream media because of the existing biases in relation to visual media and certain technological backwardness of the Gulf Arab states that prevented them from the rapid implementation of the newest technologies and new media while printing remained stable and popular media11.

Methodology
Obviously, the analysis of the current situation in the printing industry in the Gulf Arab states, should be based on the effective methods of the research that could help better understand the essence of the current processes and major trends that take place in the printing industry of these states at the moment. Taking into consideration the fact that practically all these countries are quite conservative, they often remain under-researched by western specialists while the local specialists are often believed to be subjective. This is why in the current research it will be necessary to rely not only on the studies conducted by the local specialists but also on the studies conducted by foreign specialists. This means that it is primarily necessary to pay a particular attention to the existing literature resources dedicated to the problem of the development of the printing industry in the Gulf Arab states and its perspectives, which were created by the local specialists as well as by foreign ones.

In fact, such analysis is essential in order to get more information concerning the printing industry in the region. At the same time it will apparently help analyze different positions and points of view. The latter is particularly important when a researcher deals with the countries characterized by isolationist policy or which have preserved the unique national culture and traditions and are not susceptible to the external influences that makes these countries absolutely different from the rest of the world. Moreover, this also may contribute to the existence of totally different positions within the Gulf Arab states and in other countries of the world. What is meant here is the fact that the position of the local specialists may be highly biased or simply different because of the difference in their perception of the surrounding reality. To put it more precisely, the local specialists may simply reject the western philosophy, for instance, just because it is strange to them and, therefore some of its ideas or viewpoints may be unacceptable for the local population including local researchers. On the other hand, western specialists, for instance, may simply misunderstand the specificity of the local culture, traditions, and economy. As a result, they will be practically unable to analyze the situation from the point of view of the local population but, instead, they will attempt to project their standards and philosophy on the local economy at large and the printing industry in particular without taking into consideration objective local peculiarities that are perceived as a norm in the Gulf Arab states.

However, the analysis of the literature sources solely is insufficient for the objective assessment of the current situation in the printing industry in the Gulf Arab states and development some forecast concerning its perspectives. In this respect, it seems to obvious that it is necessary to implement the analysis of the statistical information concerning the situation in the printing industry in the region which may be found in official reports and statistics. At the same time, it will help better understand the dynamic of the development of the local printing industry and, therefore, it will be easier to assess its perspectives in the future. In such a way, it is necessary to combine the existing researches and studies of the printing industry as well as the general socio-economic situation in the Gulf Arab states with the analysis of the statistical information related to the issues concerned. As a result, it will be possible to analyze in depth the current situation and forecast the perspectives of the development of the printing industry in the future.

Findings 
Basically, the analysis of the current situation in the printing industry in the Gulf Arab states have revealed the fact that some pessimistic forecasts concerning the high level of the interference of state and religious institutions in the functioning of the printing industry and print media in the region is not really true to life. It is necessary to underline that at the present moment many state of the region attempt to promote the development of the printing industry and stimulate the increasing quality of its products as well as the quality of print media at large. It should be said that nowadays the question of quality is really important and it has overshadowed the question of quantity that was relevant in the past when the printing industry was used as the tool of the propaganda.

However, it is worthy of mention that the situation may differ depending on the country and in some countries the pressure from the part of a state and religious institutions is still quite strong. Nevertheless, nowadays, it is possible to speak about the dynamic development of the printing industry in the Gulf Arab region and it is necessary to underline that the most rapidly growing the printing industry is in the countries which attempt to cooperate with the international community and which contacts with western countries are more often and close.

It should be pointed out that such a country as Bahrain, for instance, is considered to be the regional leader in the printing industry and production. For instance, in 2005, 132 books were published by Bahrain authors that means that the industry progresses and, what is more important, the local producers can use the material of the local authors in the production. In such a way, it is really important that the local printing industry can develop on the basis of the woks of the local authors because it provides ample opportunities to the further growth since the intellectual property of the local authors is considerably cheaper compared to the intellectual property of foreign authors that printing companies use in Bahrain as well as in any other country. Practically, this means that the national companies do not have to deal with international publishing houses or translate the works of foreign authors if there are the analogical works created by the local authors. In such a way, the works of the local authors may be viewed as the basis for the further growth of the national printing industry.

It is worthy of mention that the similar trend is typical to other states situated in the region, to the extent that some of them are focused on the support of the local authors solely, while the foreign authors are practically deprived of the attention of the state. The latter, i.e. the attention or support of the state, is, by the way still important but, it is necessary to underline again that everything depends on a country. To put it more precisely, there are countries which tend to the liberalization of the national market and printing industry, such as the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, for instance, Bahrain, the UAE, and some others12. In fact, these countries attempt to reform their economy in order to transform it into the open market economy. In other words, they attempt to follow the example of western countries and borrow the experience in the transition of the local economies to the economies based on the principles of the open market. Naturally, these efforts to liberalize the local economy results in the decreasing influence of the government and its lower interference in the economic life of the country. In such a way, as the pressure from the part of a state decreases, the local companies operating in the printing industry receive larger opportunities to increase their production and, what is more important, they can increase the diversity of the production that is one of the major conditions of the further economic growth of the industry.

However, the Gulf Arab states are just on their way to the open market economy, while the local traditions and culture are very strong that leads to the presence of certain protectionism even in the most liberal economies of the region. At the same time, there remains such countries as Iran where the influence of the state still remains to be very strong. In such countries the state practically defines the development of the printing industry that, naturally, does not contribute to the normal development of the industry and, potentially, it may threaten to the future of the industry since the artificial regulation or interference of the state in the functioning of the industry is a real threat to its efficiency, fair competition and high quality of its products.

Moreover, the existing censorship is another serious problem for these states. In this respect, it should be pointed out that the role of religious institutions in this process is not less and sometimes even more significant than the role of the state. In fact, along with Iran, where censorship is quite widely spread and is enhanced by the state and religious institutions, even more liberal countries, such as the UAE or Saudi Arabia also tend to some censorship, though it should be pointed out that as a rule this censorship basically concerns religious aspects or political problems when the printing material is viewed as offensive or intolerant in relation to the local authorities13. Naturally, the degree of the censorship may vary depending on a country from more liberal like in Bahrain, where the level of censorship may be viewed as one of the lowest in the regions, to an extremely high level of censorship like in Iran, where this level is probably the highest in the entire region. In such a way, the printing media in the Gulf Arab states turns to be under the double pressure from the part of the state and religious institutions.

Nevertheless, the states of the region can hardly avoid the further integration in the world community or, at least, they can hardly ignore the influence of the new technologies that are widely implemented worldwide and, some which, by the way, may be viewed as a threat to the printing industry. For instance, the development of satellite television is growing to be more and more popular in the Gulf Arab states that may potentially decrease the audience consuming the products of the printing industry14. However, the local traditions are still quite strong and the productivity of the local authors, as the example of Bahrain shows, provide ample opportunities for the further development of the printing industry which become less biased, less controlled by the state and religious institutions and, what is even more important, it becomes more diverse and even nowadays the variety of topics are freely highlighted in the print media and products of the printing industry, while in the past, they were basically focused on the religious problems.

Conclusion 
Thus, it is possible to conclude that the current study has revealed the fact that the printing industry in the Gulf Arab states is steadily progressing and evolving. Naturally, the local traditions, culture and religious beliefs are still very important and produce a significant impact on the industry through the interference of state and religious institutions in the functioning of printing companies and the existence of censorship. Nevertheless, the progress and trend to the liberalization of the local printing industry is obvious that opens new perspectives to its further development.

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