Book excerpt: In our knowledge-based world, the societies that prosper are the ones that generate knowledge - through research, through the interwoven relationship between the academe and funded research bodies and with industry. They are the new ‘centre’. It is strange indeed to think of the countries of the Arab Gulf States as the ‘periphery’. But, as the authors of this book argue very persuasively, by importing a ‘baroque arsenal’ of increasingly sophisticated and costly educational programmes, the Arab Gulf States consume other countries’ knowledge and products, all of which are of declining utility and sustainability. Whilst universities contribute to the culture and political life of modern society, the authors ask - where in the Arab Gulf States is there capacity building, knowledge generation and the culture of imaginative ideas that lie at the root of any civilisation? By following a ‘magistracy’ on a global journey through regions, nations and into institutions, their answers are intended to inform and to urge the Arab Gulf region into promoting education for its own self determination and even its survival.