الملخص الإنجليزي
Developed societies are interested in creating research centers to make future decisions. Therefore, society's various institutions and sectors became more dependent on these centers because they are one of the pillars of development in different fields for its functions and roles that contribute to design social policy. Recently, these centers which are concerned with social affairs in the Arab countries have spread, which raises the question: What are their contributions? What are the challenges they face? This study employed clerical research and comprehensive survey of the publications of these centers, both in print and electronically. Results showed that there are variations in the affiliation of research centers in each country, where most of them are governmental and belong to universities, especially in the Gulf countries. They also vary in the date of establishment which are more than sixty years in Egypt, and more than thirty years in Jordan, and a relatively modern establishment in the Gulf States. The relatively new growing up in the Gulf States. The researcher reviewed two models of Arab research centers as they are representing the centers that most contributed to the field of the Arab Social Thought, namely: National Center for Social and Criminological Research in Egypt, 1955, which is a governmental center, and Center for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut, 1975, which is a non-governmental center. The researcher presents a set of challenges that may face these centers to explore Arab future on a social level.
