References

challenge with implications for the land sector because it partly explains why the public may be reluctant to register land and pay taxes. With few political checks and balances in Middle Eastern and North African economies, achieving greater transparency in land will be critical to restoring trust. At the same time, one of the greatest opportunities to elicit change might rely on civil society. Regarding women’s rights to land in particular, countries that have made progress have done so under pressure from civil society. More generally, a shift in social norms regarding land and property rights will be an essential aspect of reform efforts.

Sweeping reforms, although needed, may be impractical, and gradual approaches are likely to be more feasible. In a way, feasibility of reforms is not specific to the land sector, but addressing challenges in the context of a particular sector could prove more feasible than a simultaneous effort in all sectors.

Arab Barometer. (2020). “Women’s Agency and Economic Mobility in MENA: Examining Patterns and Implications.” February 13. https://www.arabbarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/Public_Opinion_Arab_Women_Economic_ Conditions_Presentation_2020.pdf. Bertelsmann Stiftung. (2020). Bertelsmann Transformation Index 2020 Country Reports, MENA. http://bti-project.org/. Corsi, A., and Selod, H. (2022). Land Matters: Can Better Governance and Management of Scarcity Prevent a Looming Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa? World Bank, Washington, DC. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1661-1. Fischbach, M.R. (2000). State, Society, and Land in Jordan. Leiden: Brill (Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East 75). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-3606.2001.tb00438.x. Teti, A., Abbott, P., and Cavatorta, F. (2018). The Arab uprisings in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia: Social, Political and Economic Transformations. Palgrave Macmillan Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69044-5. Transparency International. (2019). “Corruption Perceptions Index (dashboard), 2019.” https://www.transparency.org/ en/cpi/2019. World Bank. (2020). Women, Business and the Law 2020. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge. worldbank.org/handle/10986/32639.

Chapter 10: Water and Institutions in MENA: the Need for New Ideas to Tackle a Crisis

by Stuti Khemani and Dominick Revell de Waal