Got wasta?

You’ll hear the term wasta thrown around a lot in the Middle East. In polite circles it simply means ‘influence’ and is dismissed as harmless tradition. In a western courtroom it would be described as ‘nepotism’, ‘corruption’ and ‘cronyism’. Basically, using one’s connections and family name to gain some sort of competitive advantage.

It manifests itself in a variety of ways, but it’s especially popular when it comes to securing lucrative government contracts, landing a job or promotion, or skipping out on traffic fines. In other words, all the stuff that would get you locked up for years if you tried it back home.

Although wasta has become little more that state-sanctioned corruption, its origins are more innocent and pragmatic. It was originally a means of settling tribal disputes and maintaining order — those with wasta were able to negotiate ‘conflict resolution’ before it spilled into violence. Fair enough.

More recently, it’s been described as “affirmative action for the advantaged” and a way of ensuring those in power stay there at the expense of less privileged individuals. So if you’re wondering why the guy fresh out of Qatar University who doesn’t speak English is your new general manager you can now give it a name.

While there has been a move towards increased transparency in recent years (especially when it comes to awarding business contracts), wasta is very hard to prove. It’s very nature means that cases where it has been used will never be investigated because they threaten the status quo.

Western companies in Qatar have long accepted that this is the price of doing business out here. Having a Qatari ‘business partner’ who automatically takes 51% of your company is standard. Big contracts sometimes require an extra push, and this is when you’ll see the idiot offspring of prominent families parachuted into lucrative, important-sounding positions, which don’t actually require them to do anything.

In other words, it’s no different from those ‘no show’ jobs Tony Soprano and his crew in the TV series Sopranos used to dole out to friends.

You can find more tips on living and working in Qatar in my book — God Willing: How to survive expat life in Qatar.