Wasta has a long history as a way to manage relations through mediation and interception, but has implications as being a measure of corruption for both citizens and government officials. Citizens use wasta to get what they want from politicians and to make their decisions for them instead of taking responsibility for making their own decisions. Government officials use wasta to gainfully employ family and tribal members as well as to gain Parliament votes from citizens.
An Arabian blog viewed wasta as, "Friend of the bright lawyers and enemy of the ordinary, and virus plagued the community (Ocha). Instead of wasta working to promote people to independence, it is promoting people to be lazy and dependent by solving their problems and meeting all their needs for them. Wasta takes responsibility and the right to live independently away from citizens by doing everything for them. If wasta would teach them how to take action to meet their needs on their own, it would be teaching the citizens to work for their own right to independent living.
The Qatar World Values Survey (QWVS) conducted by The Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) showed that most of the participants agreed that hard work brings success in the long run, but many felt that luck and connections brought about success (Huda). This survey shows that most people know that hard work brings success in the long run with consistent efforts. It also shows the dependency that some have gained on wasta. The feelings of luck and connections is referring to the prestigious connections of wasta and being lucky enough for wasta in having the connections that are needed to gain what success they are after without having to do the work themselves.
"Wasta has the right connections to gain promotions, jobs, university places, and more" (Vitamin W). The more connections a wasta has, the more valuable they are to citizens looking to gain something without having to take proper steps to achieve it on their own. In this respect, the citizens take advantage of wasta for personal gain instead of working for the gain they receive, which is wasta promoting people to laziness. With wasta having prestigious connections, it also leaves them open for abuse by citizens in demanding what they want because of the prestigious connections that wasta has.
Wasta means "connections, clout, influence or favoritism…" (Vitamin W). The meaning of wasta shows that a wasta is given favoritism that enables them to gain prestige and connections just because they are a wasta. It shows a sign of power from the position of being a wasta, not necessarily from who the wasta really is. Businesses and professionals would automatically give honor and prestige when a wasta approaches them. Because of this a wasta would not even have to work for the prestigious connections they receive from just being a wasta themselves. Society would honor and respect them regardless of who they are or what they have actually achieved in life. The name wasta can set up abuse from citizens because they know that wasta has connections they would not have just because of the wasta name.
The ability to secure employment that creates a relatively high living standard is viewed by families as reducing the need for higher education (Al-Nabit). If wasta gains employment opportunities and promotions for citizens, the need for higher education is reduced. At the same time, higher education is what is used for citizens to train and be prepared to perform job duties. If the citizens do not know how to perform the required job duties, the business suffers from untrained employees in advancing business strategies for revenues. The businesses also pay a higher costs to train employees and develop them into useful assets for the business operations which reduces the profits of a company. In this respect, wasta doing everything for citizens also robs the economy...
wasta spreading Qatar community Wasta means, "connections, clout, influence or favoritism comes from an Arabic root (w-s-T) conveying the idea of 'middle', and a wasta is someone who acts as a go-between." Wasta is referred to 'vitamin w' enabling an Arabic citizen to obtain what he/she needs and helps them to resolve problems and conflict. It is evident that wasta has a long history of managing relations through mediation and
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