Brain_Drain

Tackling Brain Drain! Ali Farhat Sophomore Rhetoric Tackling Brain Drain! Out of many changes that occurred in the centuary is the drastic emergence of technology all around the globe. The impact of such emergence significantly affected the social, demographic, and economical aspects of the community. Moving far more distant from creating a utopia in this technological era, many aspects are setting people off. Economies rose up, machines started taking over and with the population increase so did standards. Lebanon, being one of the countries passing through economic difficulties, is suffering from a demographic changing phenomenon characterized by massive immigration of people to other countries seeking better work opportunities. This phenomenon is called “Brain Drain”. Brain drain, however, just made the economy get tougher to fix where having most percentage of immigrants being scholars and experienced labor force. In another sense, other countries are getting credited for Lebanese people’s work rather than Lebanon itself. Many researches we done in effort to figure the brain drain phenomenon and try tackling it. “This brain drain has proved difficult for the economies of the Arab countries, many of which are already struggling” (Akl, 2012). Lebanon has been known for the lack of proper working and researching opportunities, political instability, and economical depression which are causing people to immigrate seeking those elements in foreign countries. However, instead of grieving about the situation and not trying to solve it calling it a “waste of time”, brain drain can actually be reversed with steps that already are found but not fully implemented yet. Developing a global scientific grid, Reforming politics and demographic state, in addition to increasing investments in development and research sectors can be the first to look at in a vast line of solutions to be offered in solving the brain drain phenomenon. So what is exactly brain drain' And what is causing it is Lebanon' Brain drain is the “capital flight” of technically skilled and educated individuals seeking opportunities out of their country when none exist in their own. Lebanon is one that is widely experiencing and suffering from brain drain having both government and individuals causing it. A small country like Lebanon, being dependent on service-typed economy, has been run down repeatedly by wars and political instabilities. The constant need to rebuild the country by the government left it unable to work on satisfying scholars needs of opportunities due to the lack of finance in hand. “Lebanon continues to be crippled by its $58 billion public debt and in dire need to further increase its economy” (Sassine, 2011). That crippling left the government unable to control the “brain drain” phenomenon properly. The economy didn’t only leave the government crippled but also individuals. Most people are not able to afford high expenses and that directly affect jobs availability and salaries. With a low demand on luxuries the firms got only two ways to cut the loses either by decreasing their human labor force thus decreasing job opportunities or decreasing their expenses expressed mostly by lowering salary payments. So people are just getting poorer and unemployment is increasing. Moreover, any individual having their businesses destroyed in wars whether militarily or economically, are likely not to re-run it being disappointed by the rapid demolishment of their hard work. The previous is being assumed since most people that had their businesses destroyed couldn’t be refunded or reinvested in after their business assets were run down. Thus new generations, scholars especially, are trying to avoid this unpredictable country so not to suffer the same disappointment of the many who suffered economically from wars. The government being unable to thrive and reform socially as much as intended made the race between Lebanon and other countries seem like a race of a carriage going against a bullet train. Where most countries are speeding in with technology Lebanon is still stuck in the last decade’s technology still. This technological deficiency left scholars, young graduates and businessmen with little hope of staying in Lebanon and riding the express train to other developed countries in order to satisfy their demands. However, controlling the situation does not demand prayers for luck; it only demands the perseverance of individuals and government to come up with small but practical ideas that pave the way for completely reversing brain drain. No idea is that immense, it’s individuals who make it immense enough. Lebanese both governmental and private sectors are capable of creating the conditions to control the outburst of the brain drain phenomenon. Nowadays, access for technology is easy through massive grids found in global networks and are of un-exclusive accessibility. These smart grids are electronic grids that gather data and information from different countries and institutions in one large database that anyone can access wherever he is. People there can be informed of the latest changes in technology and sciences; and are able to contact other researchers from any point in the world. These grids already exist and just need a government’s attention for it. The government only has to integrate the system in Lebanon that will allow Lebanese researchers and innovators to get recent scientific breakthroughs in depth without having to leave the country. But knowledge about scientific breakthroughs is not the only step to perform. Researches and innovators always have the excitement to test these scientific matters but no much labs exist to do so. Lebanese government is able to create a national facility that consists of labs that can allow researchers and scientists to have access to latest equipment to perform their researches. Many individuals will claim that the government is unable to afford such plan. However, having researchers performing researches in Lebanon and with the assistance of such governmental faculties will give both copyright of any breakthrough or innovation. And whether those innovations are of profit to individuals or government, both cases will help improve Lebanon’s economy as a whole. Those electronic grids already exist and are only needed to be incorporated by the government. Researchers will be able to gain not only the knowledge but also the social capitals without leaving the country even. Abigail Paris explains that returnees will not only come back to their countries with only experience and skill, but also with the social connections both scientific and non-scientific (Paris, 2008). Creating scientific incentives and offers will not create that change if not aided by governmental politics and reforms. The Lebanese territory has witnessed political instability for far too long. Most politicians is Lebanon work for their own sect mostly having their ideologies regarding mostly the demands of few sects not all of them. Having eighteen religious sects spread over a small land, it is hard for all different needs to be agreed on. But what if politicians look for the welfare of sects rather than just looking at his own' The government then can be able to work on tackling brain drain. Throughout history, many countries in Europe got its political reforms by separating religion from politics and social life. All those countries are considered now the most technological advanced countries in the world such as France, Britain, Russia and United States of America. Lebanese government should try to place policies for political parties, mostly each belongs to a different sect, limiting their involvement in political decisions. Instead of having each work for a group of people require them to work for all by requiring common social activities and events for instance. The biggest issue is most sects are not aware of other sects needs thus they don’t usually tend to come up with solutions benefiting all sects. Other political reforms can be by creating policies that regard immigrants such as rights to vote which is being worked on at the moment. George Pierre Sassine, a Harvard alumnu and a public policy masters graduate , states how important is granting voting rights to immigrants is the most effective tool in reversing brain drain (Sassine,2011). However, many still claim that the government lacks the necessary timeframe and logistics to agree on the voting rights law of immigrants. Again, Sassine expresses that other Arab countries such as Egypt, where the government was able to reform the voting system in a short time frame (Sassine, 2011). The ability to get investments these days are getting easy with the “globalization” phenomena occurring in the world. Having the world’s economy becoming more global, the flow of intellectual and economical capital has increased significantly. Lebanese immigrants already have mostly increased their capital through work in foreign countries and are aiding in helping the Lebanese economy through the money they are sending in. so diaspora elements to aid economy are there. But what type of standards are immigrants are looking for in order to return' And how can they be tackled' Immigrants would probably interested in life standards such as a decent electric grid and violence decrease. Many alternative energy technologies exist nowadays. So Lebanon should focus mostly on attracting electrical engineer and alternative energy experts back to Lebanon. Investing on alternative energy would help stabilize and improve Lebanon’s electric grid while decreasing governmental expenses from patrol operated electric stations. The natural awareness that will help creating a healthier and a better economy, would leave Lebanese government with more capital to spend on reforming social life. The reformations government able to do are reforms in internal security, investments, and aiding people through offering more social services to citizens such as free educational and medical care institutions. Once people are more economically stable they would reform from violence. That could be the first step towards decreasing violence in Lebanon. Like any problem nowadays, it is not naturally existing but caused by many factors working together to cause it. Brain Drain, like any other problem, has its factors that cause it. All what needed to be done is pinpointing those factors and trying to reverse them. Even miniscule reformation in our social and political life can aid in decreasing the impact of brain drain. Such a social dilemma needs time to overcome and the only barrier against that is effort-less minds that are not seeking change. Lebanon’s current standing regarding brain drain is an uncomfortable one but this owe to change. Nothing will be lost if reversing brain drain failed so why not try to' References Akl, N. (2012). Middle East brain drain shows signs of reversing. Common Ground News Service. PARIS, A. (2008). Reverse Brain Drain. Sassine, G. P. (2011). Don’t let Lebanon’s diaspora go to waste. The Daily Star.