Wasta: The Hidden Force in Middle Eastern Society

(Hardback)

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Description

"Wasta" means intercession or mediation. Traditionally, the head of the family in Middle Eastern countries performed wasta services by obtaining for the supplicant what is assumed to be otherwise unattainable. In recent years, wasta has become prominent in seeking benefits from government. Wasta pervades the culture of all Arab countries and is a force in all significant decision-making, yet it is not mentioned by most writers on the Middle East nor is it openly discussed by Arabs themselves. This book explains wasta - its practice, its effects, its advantages, and its social situations - through stories, personal profiles, and descriptions of social situations where its importance is magnified. The authors use Jordan as an example to illustrate the challenge of doing business in, and with, public organisations where kinship, locale, ethnicity, religion and wealth render some people more privileged than others in obtaining employment, university admission, or equal treatment under the law.

Author Bio

ROBERT B. CUNNINGHAM is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee. He has written three other books, including The Bank and the Bureau (Praeger, 1988), on organizational development in the Middle East, as well as more than a dozen articles in academic and professional journals. YASIN K. SARAYRAH is Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Administration at Yarmouk University in Jordan. He has worked for eight years in the Jordanian government, given papers at several international conferences, and has designed and delivered management training programs in the Middle East and the United States.