Public Sector Reform in the Middle East and North Africa: Lessons of Experience for a Region in Transition

The Center for Arab Unity Studies published the book Public Sector Reform in the Middle East and North Africa: Lessons of Experience for a Region in Transition (edited by: Robert B. Peschel and Tarik M. Youssef) (translated by Ghalaa Samir Anas).

Political unrest and civil wars in the Arab region have played a role in obliterating the efforts that many Arab countries were making to reform their public sectors. In addition, governments that are corrupt and unresponsive to calls for reform have faced many new pressures, to improve the quality of public services and partnership in decision-making processes. Some of these reform efforts were underway and had achieved partial success, at least before the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2010. These reform efforts have continued in some countries despite the multiple unrest that has occurred in the region since then.

This book provides a comprehensive assessment of a wide range of reform efforts in nine Arab countries. In six cases, these reforms targeted the basic regulations of the government: restructuring the operations of the Council of Ministers in Jordan, the Palestinian Authority’s review of public financial management, the voluntary retirement program in Morocco, human resources management reforms in Lebanon, the e-management initiative in Dubai, and attempts to enhance transparency in Tunisia. Five other reform efforts also addressed executive government departments, including Egypt’s attempt to strengthen the tax collection mechanism and Saudi Arabia’s work to enhance services and bill collection. Some reform efforts have been more successful than others.

This book, in which a group of writers and experts participated, deals with the positive and negative aspects of public sector reform efforts in nine Arab countries. It does not only look at what the reforms have accomplished, but also looks at how they are implemented. The result is a series of lessons learned that establish for the adoption of reform systems by public sector in the Arab region.