Routledge Corruption and Informal Practices in the Middle East and North Africa (Routledge Corruption and Anti-Corruption Studies)

Product Description This book investigates the pervasive problem of corruption across the Middle East and North Africa. Drawing on the specifics of the local context, the book explores how corruption in the region is actuated through informal practices that coexist and work in parallel to formal institutions. When informal practices become vehicles for corruption, they can have negative ripple effects across many aspects of society, but on the other hand, informal practices could also have the potential to be leveraged to reinforce formal institutions to help fight corruption. Drawing on a range of cases including Morocco, Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia or Israel the book first explores the mechanisms and dynamics of corruption and informal practices in the region, before looking at the successes and failures of anti-corruption initiatives. The final section focuses on gender perspectives on corruption, which are often overlooked in corruption literature, and the role of women in the Middle East. With insights drawn from a range of disciplines, this book will be of interest to researchers and students across political science, philosophy, socio-legal studies, public administration, and Middle Eastern studies, as well as to policy makers and practitioners working in the region. Review "This volume is destined to become an instant classic on corruption and informal practices in the MENA region. Leading authorities shed light on lies beyond the shadows." -- Robert Looney, Distinguished Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, USA. "In this innovative collection, a new generation of scholarship finds a way of disaggregating the umbrella term of ‘corruption’ for the purposes of precision in study and policy-making in the Middle East and Northern Africa. They focus on the sensitive issues as to whether, and at which point informal practices, widely adopted and often associated with culture, actually turn into corruption. The book sheds light on why some anti-corruption strategies have worked and others have not, and explores the potential of empowering women and facilitating the use of personal networks, thus integrating ‘what works’ into the anti-corruption policy implementation and offering context-sensitive solutions to the persistent issues in the region." -- Alena Ledeneva, Founder of the Global Informality Project, Professor of Politics and Society, UCL, United Kingdom About the Author Ina Kubbe, Post-Doctoral Researcher, The School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs, Tel Aviv University, Israel. Aiysha Varraich, PhD Candidate, Quality of Government Institute, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.