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Rabat – The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies released the eighth edition of its Arab Opinion Index, surveying citizens of Arab countries on various issues.
The survey’s results show, among other matters, a lack of faith in institutions in the region, particularly legislative and governmental bodies.
While 47% of respondents from across the MENA region said they trust their countries’ legislative bodies, a notable 48% expressed the opposite opinion, with 32% voting that they have “no trust at all.”
In contrast, armies enjoyed the highest amount of trust among citizens, with 59% across the Arab World expressing “strong trust” for their country’s military body.
Corruption was another of the topics in the survey, with a staggering 73% of respondents saying that corruption is a problem in their countries. In the North Africa region, 50% said that it is “very widespread.”
Respondents in North Africa also proved to have the most favorable opinions towards democratic systems of rule.
When asked “A democratic system, despite its issues, is better than other systems,” 73% of respondents from the region expressed agreement with the statement.
A July report from the Arab Barometer showed that Arab citizens are losing faith in democracy’s efficiency, decrying economic conditions with some expressing favor for a leader “who can bend the rules.”
Since the Arab Spring began sweeping the region in 2011, several countries have seen what began as a promising democratic transition fail to deliver economic promises, eventually leading to warnings of democratic backsliding.
Tunisia, which was widely regarded as one of the few countries to enter a real democratic transition through the Arab Spring, fell 21 places in the 2021 Democracy Index, as it was reclassified from a “flawed democracy” to a “hybrid regime.”
