Book Description

Internet, satellite channels and new technologies are evolving and progressing by the day allowing free flow and exchange of information and ideas. And despite governments’ attempts to frustrate or quash independent players and research centers, the number of independent activists is dramatically increasing and the NGOs are booming. And if corruption were a sensitive subject to governments, it has become a basic commodity on internet websites, NGOs work and discussion programs on satellite channels that are watched and heard by millions across the Arab world. Tackling corruption is no longer a monopoly of government-appointed experts and lawyers. It had reached activists and the societies from all backgrounds. There are few civil society organizations that tackle corruption in this region but are on the rise. In numbers, the Arab civil society in general is witnessing a noticeable vivacity in a number of Arab countries and multiplying by the day despite the restrictive laws and regulations. ... Certainly, civil society can contribute much to cure corruption, but influential countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia do not promote anti-corruption activities or for that matter the establishment of NGOs to fight it. Its main dilemma however is related to finding sources for funding for its activities and development. And while the most common mechanism for encouraging individuals and corporations to make cash and in-kind donations to NGOs is through tax incentives for donors, tax deductions by law are given to individuals who build mosques. Arab countries that do allocate support and tax exemptions to NGOs make sure that recipient societies follow rather than monitor their policies. And though regimes acknowledge the repercussions of rampant corruption on their economies and on foreign investment, they remain hesitant in encouraging the civil society to carry the torch or initiating dramatic changes. In the words of Ahmed Lari, chief of the Kuwaiti Association for Public Funds: Corruption delays development because officials gear budgets toward projects that make them money rather than toward those that can benefit peoples such as education, health and public services.(5) From the Introduction