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Corruption in the armies of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa that the citizens of those countries are not aware of, or who prefer to lose sight of it to secure punishment. Media institutions in most of these countries are prohibited by law from publishing any information about the armed forces under the pretext of national security and secrecy, and this means that most citizens remain unaware of the corruption cases of their armies. . Why do so many people in Arab countries trust their armed forces, despite the fact that corruption is consuming most of the region’s armies? The answer is given by researcher Abdul Hadi Al-Ajlah.
Do people lean on the Arab region? Show more trust in transparent and corruption-free institutions than others? This is what we might expect, but it appears to be the other way around.
According to the Arab Barometer Survey For the year 2018-2019, 49.4% of people in Algeria, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Kuwait, Sudan, Lebanon, Egypt and Yemen showed great confidence in their country’s armed forces, while 26% showed a reasonable degree of confidence in their armed forces.
In the same poll, 47.3 percent said Among respondents who had high levels of trust in the military, national-level corruption rates are high in their countries, while 52.2% believe corruption rates are moderate.
In Egypt, for example, 57% of Egyptians surveyed in 2018 said they placed a lot of faith in the military, while 27.3% placed a reasonable amount of trust. Surprisingly, 48 percent of those who said they placed great trust in the military indicated that corruption rates in the country were very high.
On the other hand, most of the respondents believe that there is a large amount of corruption at the national level (in official institutions). This percentage was 74% in Iraq, 59% in Lebanon, 77% in Libya, 42% in Morocco, 46% in Sudan, 74% in Tunisia and 33% in Yemen.
Great risk of corruption in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa
Based on data from the Government Defense Sector Integrity Index (GDI), which measures five corruption risk factors: political, personal, operational, financial and purchasing, the vast majority of MENA countries present a significant corruption risk. The integrity index divides the corruption risk into categories: A to F, with “F” representing the highest risk and “A” representing the lowest risk. Most countries in the Middle East and North Africa fall into the very large or significant corruption risk category.
Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are ranked among the highest corruption risk categories in their defense sector (very high corruption risk), while Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates are ranked in a category below them with a degree (high risk of corruption).
By comparing this data with the Arab Barometer data, we will find that countries with a very high risk of corruption have shown high levels of trust in the military. In Tunisia, for example, the only country in the Middle East and North Africa ranked in the “D” category of the government’s defense integrity index, 69% trust the Tunisian armed forces, although 74% of the latter believe that corruption is common in the country. . However, the level of corruption risk in Tunisia appears to show improvement in the defense sector.
Do you need security? A sense of heroism? Or the militarization of society?
This ambivalent attitude towards corrupt institutions, Which not only abuses its powers and dominates the economy, but also avoids oversight and accountability under the guise of secrecy and national security, raises questions about why people tend to trust those they think are corrupt. Do they prioritize safety? Do you feel heroic? Is it the militarization of society?
Are the citizens of those countries aware of the corruption that prevails? The defense sector in their country, or do they prefer to look away from it, because the military is the strongest institution in the country? Indeed, many people know about corruption in the military, but they don’t talk about it for fear of severe punishment. Furthermore, corruption cases are not covered by the media, which means that most citizens remain unaware of these issues.
These figures demonstrate confidence in corruption Nationally, in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa it does not extend to the defense sector and the armed forces. The high level of trust in the armed forces vis-à-vis political and judicial institutions reflects a contradiction in the perception of corruption.
A trust gap between the military and civil society
Citizens of the Middle East and North Africa seem to exclude the military from the institutions they regard as corrupt and view it as an entity independent of the government, parliament and judiciary. This perception of the military as a single institution means a trust gap between civilian and military institutions in the region.
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