Public servants are the butt of jokes the world over, but they are a real curse in the Middle East, according to a recent Economist report.  A routine legal name change in Iraq can tae asmany as 18 court appearances.  Starting a business in Egypt requires permits from 78 agencies.

How did this impass come to be?  Dictators and one party states have treated the bureaucracy as employment positions for family and friends.  Funding these often non-fuctioning employees drains coffers and drives productive workers to the private sector.

Merit testing for jobs and realistic measures of job performances might help get governments functioning again if there is a political will.  Tax-authority and unionized workers have protested against change.  In Lebanon it was feared that recruiting more competent workers would unbalance a fragile system.

The only answer may be making bureaucrats responsible to citizens at the local level.