Public governance, the ways in which governments interact with citizens or civil society groups to promote social and economic welfare, is typically weaker in countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region than in others at similar income levels, according to a recently published World Bank report.
Weak governance has taken a toll on economic performance. Productivity has been on the decline in MENA for three decades. Average annual per capita growth for the region stands at 0.9 percent since 1980, less than that of sub-Saharan Africa. Studies have shown that if, over the past 15 years, MENA had matched the average quality of administration in the public sector for strong performers in Southeast Asia, the region’s growth rates would have been higher by about one percentage point a year. This would have meant that average incomes per person would be double what they are today.
The study argues that good governance rests on the twin values of inclusiveness and accountability. It reveals that the failure of MENA countries to ensure these has weakened their economic growth and human development. And, as men and women in MENA are living today at a time of rising expectations and growing economic challenges, the gap between societies’ achievements and people’s aspirations puts development in MENA at risk.
“Development is not only about incomes and wealth. It is also about the broader quality of life: having educational opportunities, access to quality healthcare and clean water, equality of treatment and the freedom to participate in the governance process,” says World Bank Vice President for MENA, Christiaan Poortman. “Good governance is essential to secure these values, because it ensures that state authority is exercised in ways that respect the integrity, rights and needs of everyone in the country.”
Governments in MENA have sought to provide a broad range of public goods, achieving remarkable results in recent years. Lebanon raised the rate of childhood immunization from virtually none to more than 90 percent in one decade. Tunisia increased the number of phone lines by fivefold, also in one decade. And despite the water scarcity afflicting most countries, the region enjoys among the best access to water for its people.
“Gains of the last decades in basic services are being threatened by weaknesses in inclusiveness,” cautions Chief Economist for the MENA region at the World Bank, Mustapha Nabli. “Pressures from rising populations, increasing urbanization and growing complexity of modern public services have strained the coverage of many public services, creating gender inequities and urban-rural gaps in literacy and other social indicators.”
According to the report, inclusiveness is based on equality, which is enshrined in virtually every constitution in MENA. Inclusiveness protects people’s basic rights, treating everyone uniformly before the law, allowing all to participate in governance, and assuring equal opportunities to access public services.
The region is particularly lagging in the second core value underpinning good governance, accountability. This draws on the notion of representation—of holding public figures answerable to their constituents—a value that most MENA constitutions also recognize by vesting sovereignty in the people. Accountability depends on public transparency, which requires knowledge and readily available information on what government does. Accountability also rests on mechanisms such as contestability and a strong ethic of service to the public, which encourage government officials to act in the public’s interest—or be removed from office for poor performance.
Some countries in the region have made strides towards greater transparency. Iran publishes its full national budget and televises its parliamentary debates, like some other countries in the region. The media is also contributing to the public debate on government accountability in countries like Iran and Algeria, and is particularly vocal in Lebanon. Satellite televisions are playing an increasingly important role in transmitting information across previously impenetrable borders.
But in general, MENA countries exhibit a pattern of limited and reluctant transparency. It has the least empirical data on issues that relate to governance. No country assures citizens the right to government information. Activities of the media are carefully monitored and controlled in most countries, stifling public debate. And although countries like Bahrain and Morocco have recently strengthened parliaments, accountability mechanisms in the region consistently continue to be weak because of excessive concentration of power in the executive authority and limited channels for citizen participation. Contestability for most public officials through regular, fair and competitive processes remains rare.
“There is clearly a strong economic rationale for MENA countries to embrace good governance,” stresses Lead Economist at the World Bank and lead author of the report, Charles Humphreys. “The quality of governance helps shapes the quality of policy formulation and implementation, which in turn determines whether there is effective delivery of public services and an attractive business environment for investors.”
The absence of a sound governance system, therefore, hinders governments’ ability to meet the growing demand for more jobs and better social services, as well as more rights, from a burgeoning young population. Economic growth and job creation is restrained by sluggish private investment, which in turn is the result of a poor overall climate for investment. This again is caused by poor governance—policies that are often inefficient, ineffective or biased, by bureaucratic structures that are uncertain, ineffective and costly, and by inadequate public services needed by businesses.
In a world where public services are increasingly complex—from ensuring internet access to delivering market-relevant education—the inflexible policies, limited flows of information and large cumbersome administrations of many MENA countries fail to keep up with demands and aspirations of both businesses and citizens. As a result, human development suffers both from material and social deficits and from the failure to assure human rights for all.
As the region’s index scores suggest, the governance challenge does not lie only in the capacity of MENA administrators. It is specifically in the institutions that ensure public accountability that governance in MENA is weakest.
The World Bank offers a structured program of reform that revolves around ‘five pathways’ that lead to better governance. They include expanding inclusiveness, national actions to strengthen external accountabilities, national checks and balances to strengthen internal accountabilities, local actions to strengthen external accountability and administrative measures for better internal accountability. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
