"Arab civil society has succeeded in promoting the transparency agenda despite legal impediments and smearing attacks, according to a book recently published by the Arab Archives Institute (AAI) in Jordan."The book, entitled “Against Corruption - The role of Arab Civil Society in Fighting Corruption”, analyses the activities carried out by civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Arab world with focus on Jordan, Bahrain and Morocco as representative countries of the Mashreq, Gulf and Maghreb regions.
"In the case of Jordan, the book analyses the role of CSOs in fighting corruption and their relationship with the government and the authorities in the kingdom.
"While the Jordanian government exposed an estimated two-billion-US dollar corruption cases (since the democratic process was reintroduced in Jordan in 1989 until 2007) civil society had magnificently succeeded in pushing for an anti-corruption legislation that saw the light less than a decade after initiating campaigning efforts.
"The book also shows how Arab civil society has succeeded in a short span of time to advance the issue of fighting corruption and placing it on the national, Arab and international agendas. Were it not for the NGOs, the number of corrupt people might have been double the number that is already there. [...]"
Source: Middle East Online, November 29, 2007
