Wasta
Relationships and Connections in the Arab World
From: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasta Wasta or Wasata (Arabic: ‫ )ﻭوﺍاﺳْﻄﺔ‬is an Arabic word that loosely translates into Nepotism or
'clout' or 'who you know'. It refers to using one’s connections and/or influence to get things
done, including government transactions such as the quick renewal of a passport, waiving
of traffic fines, and getting hired for or promoted in a job.
In other words, it amounts to getting something through favoritism rather than merit, or
what is informally spoken of in English as "pull" from connections (the opposite of "push").
The English word cronyism overlaps in meaning but is not precisely the same. Roughly
equivalent words in other languages include Sociolismo in Cuba; Blat in Russia; Guanxi in
Chinese and Vetternwirtschaft in German, protektzia in Israeli slang; in BrazilianPortuguese it is called "Pistolão", or in the slang "peixada".
Etymology[edit]
Wasta is derived from the Modern Standard Arabic word "wasaṭ"( ‫ )ﻭوﺱسﻁط‬which commonly
means medium but also often means something akin to intermediary, intercessor or
middle-man.
A Bahraini diarist[1] provides some information about how the practice originated:
The system evolved to preserve the social structure of the tribe. It allowed for the
leadership to distribute the tribe's wealth as they deemed in their wisdom and experience
would preserve peace and harmony. They would grant access to opportunities to those
most deserving or to those who would otherwise be left behind, at their discretion. It is also
important to keep the tribe from weakening itself, therefore internal competition is avoided.
Furthermore, companies in the Arab world rarely have a ‘no-nepotism’ policy in place, so
one can often find a workforce with friends and friends relatives who may or may not be
qualified. This takes place in both the public and private sectors.
In many Arab countries, such as United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar,
Jordan and Lebanon, wasta affects hiring and promotion decisions. This is not restricted to
Arab nationals but is also practised by expatriates who use their connections as wastas.
With respect to recruitment, there seems to be a movement away from this wasta,
especially in the case of multinationals and professional firms. However, Wasta is still
widely used in the region.
WASTA
Source: What's Really Wrong with the Middle East, by Brian Whitaker (Saqi Books, 2009).
http://www.al-bab.com/arab/background/wasta.htm
Vitamin W
Often jokingly referred to by Arabs as Vitamin W, wasta is the magical lubricant that
smoothes the way to jobs, promotions, university places and much else besides. In fact,
with the right connections, it can solve almost any kind of problem. Wasta, the blogger
known as Secret Dubai wrote, is “arguably the most valuable form of currency in much of
the Middle East, far more effective than bribes and certainly more effective than following
due process”.
“Everything goes through wasta,” said Salam Pax, the Iraqi blogger. “Whether you are
trying to get a good bed in hospital for your aunt, whether it was me trying to dodge
military service, you can make your life much easier. It’s almost expected.” Wasta, he
explained, is an extension of “this feeling that a family or a tribe will look after each other
… If you are from tribe X, and you meet someone else from tribe X you are expected to
help them. If you don’t – then, hey!”
Wasta, which roughly translates as connections, clout, influence or favoritism, comes from
an Arabic root (w-s-T) conveying the idea of “middle”, and a wasta is someone who acts
as a go-between. The same word, as an abstract noun, refers to the use of intermediaries.
The intermediary in cases of wasta must be someone with influence (in order to secure
the favor) but not necessarily a relative or even a close friend; quite possibly just a passing
acquaintance or sometimes a complete stranger. By using his influence to perform a
service, the wasta acquires prestige and honor, but perhaps more importantly, the person
receiving the favor incurs a debt of gratitude, which may have to be repaid in unspecified
ways at some point in the future.
The origins of wasta are by no means disreputable. It has a long and generally
respectable history as a way of managing relations between families, clans or tribes
through intermediaries. In the event of a blood feud, for example, different kinds of Wasta
person(s) could be involved: a wasta as an individual or multiple wasta persons acting as
a group of elders respected by both sides, could be called upon to resolve the matter
through negotiation and compromise while salvaging the honor of the parties involved.
Besides mediation, wasta is also traditionally used to intercede – for example to approach
one family on behalf of another with a view to arranging a marriage – and it is this form
which has evolved in insidious ways to become rampant throughout the Middle East.
Intercessionary wasta, as practiced today, is basically a way of circumventing problems
rather than confronting them.
The development of Arab states in the 20th century, far from banishing wasta, created
new opportunities for it to adapt and flourish. The expansion of the Jordanian civil service
during and after the 1960s, for instance, led to a situation where senior officials filled new
posts with employees from their extended family or region. Governments were happy to let
this happen at the time, since they were less preoccupied with building a smooth-running
state than establishing their own legitimacy among the populace – and this was one way
of doing so. “That’s how wasta and nepotism spread and gave birth to thousands of
unqualified and unproductive employees who do nothing but wait for their salaries at the
end of the month,” according to Dr Adnan Badran, president of Philadelphia University in
Jordan.
Although wasta, as an almost inescapable aspect of daily life, is often depicted in Arabic
novels, films and TV dramas, there has been surprisingly little research into the
phenomenon apart from two studies published in 1993 and 2002 in relation to Jordan –
the latter by the Amman-based Arab Archives Institute (AAI) which had earlier conducted
a survey of public opinion.6 Jordan clearly has a serious wasta problem, though the
country is by no means unique in that respect.
As in many Arab countries, the public sector in Jordan is the largest employer. An
estimated 500,000 people receive salaries from the state – which probably means that as
many as one family in two depends financially to some extent on the state. Salaries
account for around two-thirds of the national budget. Among the many burgeoning arms of
government, the state-run television corporation has long been regarded as among the
most overblown. According to the AAI report, an internal investigation found that over a
five-year period it had hired around 1,000 superfluous employees – and it is easy to see
how this happened.
On one occasion the director-general was approached by the prime minister to hire “some
acquaintances of his”. A couple of hours later security staff at the main gate reported that
a bus had arrived carrying twenty people who said they had been sent by the prime
minister. The director-general then contacted the prime minister: “There are tens of people
out there,” he remonstrated. But the prime minister was insistent: “Just appoint them,
quickly,” he replied.
Although Jordanian television has had periodic mass clear-outs of staff, “there were
employees of high qualifications among the dismissed ones and many others, appointed
by wasta, remained at the top of their jobs”. Often, there is little or no attempt to conceal
the use of wasta. Faisal Shboul, a newly appointed director of the state-run Petra News
Agency, admitted to the press that he had been appointed through wasta – adding that
this was no different from the way the eleven previous directors had been appointed.
For politicians, being known as someone who can deliver on the wasta front brings
obvious electoral advantages while the popularity of any who refuse to play the game is
liable to suffer. At an electoral gathering in the northern city of Salt, Abdullah Nsour, a
former deputy prime minister of Jordan, revealed that he appointed thousands of people
from his district while in office. In a newspaper interview, a former mayor of Amman,
Mamdouh Abbadi, condemned wasta but admitted to appointing many people from his
own tribe. Resisting the expectations of their supporters can be extremely difficult –
especially if rival tribes or other districts are seen to be benefiting.
On the other hand, politicians who use wasta extensively are liable to become
overburdened with more and more demands from their constituents. This has a distorting
effect on the activities of parliament, diverting members’ attention from legislating and
monitoring the government’s performance, according to the AAI: “Voluntarily or out of
social pressure, parliamentarians’ role in mediating, or, in other words, using wasta
between the citizen and the state, is increasing dramatically and becoming their main
task.” Politicians cannot be blamed for that entirely: it is driven by popular demand,
institutional weakness, arbitrary enforcement of laws, lack of transparency and
bureaucratic complexity. One member of parliament, Khaled Tarawneh, grumbled that
citizens are more interested in obtaining wasta than discussing the issues of the day.
Although wasta often provides the means for people to obtain a benefit they are not
entitled to, there are other situations where, as a result of maladministration or defective
governance, wasta can help them obtain their rights. This has led to an argument that
wasta can also be benevolent – a “poor people’s weapon” where those lacking the means
to deal with the authorities effectively can secure just treatment through intervention by
others who have influence. The problem with this approach is that it does not address the
underlying reasons for the maladministration and, in the long run, probably makes matters
worse by alleviating any pressure to reform the system. Among various people interviewed
about this by the AAI, Hakim Harb, a film producer, refused to give examples of
“benevolent” wasta, saying that whether mischievous or benevolent it should not exist in a
society that respects individuals’ rights: “When we live in a real society, progressive, and
civilized, and when we live in an atmosphere filled with freedoms, democracy and human
rights, everyone will obtain his/her rights and the right people will be in the right places
without the need for any form of help.”
The widespread dislike of wasta was highlighted in 2000 by a survey among Jordanians.
Eighty-six percent agreed that it is a form of corruption and 87% thought it should be
eliminated. At the same time, though, 90% said they expected to use wasta at least
“sometimes” in the future and 42% thought their need for it was likely to increase, while
only 13% thought their need would decrease.