Middle Eastern Public Management: A Cultural Approach To Developmental Administration

This study takes a comparative approach in studying public management in the Middle East. It argues that the Middle East region, despite its rich culture and long history of administration, has demonstrated a great difficulty in maintaining viable, efficient, and effective public institutions. It contends that administrative culture in most Middle Eastern bureaucracies is incompatible with the culture of the masses and does not match the peoples’ expectations. Due to this inherent incompatibility, most Middle Easterners perceive their public institutions as corrupt and oppressive entities that only serve their political masters and try to preserve themselves. The article explores the core Islamic values that have to be part of the administrative culture in the Middle East in order to bring about an overhaul of public institutions in the area. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005