Positive Public Administration in Lebanon and the Arab World: Why It Matters?

When people in Lebanon or elsewhere in the Arab World talk about government, the conversation usually turns to dysfunction: corruption, clientelism, endless paperwork, and leaders more interested in protecting power than serving citizens. That story is real. But it is not the whole story, and an emerging school of thought in public administration argues that focusing only on failure is itself a problem.

A Field Built on Failure — and a Correction

Public administration research has traditionally centered on what goes wrong, meticulously analyzing government scandals, official investigations, and policy failures. More recent scholarship pushes for a necessary counterweight: Positive Public Administration (PPA). Borrowing from positive psychology and appreciative inquiry as fields that study how organizations flourish rather than how they fail, PPA shifts the diagnostic question. Instead of asking only “What is broken?”, it asks, “What is working, and how do we build on it?”.

This is not naïve optimism. Proponents of PPA accept that systemic failure deserves intense scrutiny. But a near-total focus on deficits, amplified by a media culture with a built-in negativity bias, frequently obscures genuine institutional learning. Studying high-performing agencies can be just as instructive as diagnosing collapse, offering practical templates to replicate rather than just warnings to avoid. In a region where institutional trust has been battered by economic crises and patronage politics, this reframing insists that dysfunction is not the only available data point.

Pockets of Positive Public Administration in Lebanon

Lebanon’s trajectory has been rocky in recent years—economic collapse, political gridlock, public infrastructure failures, refugee pressures, and social frustration. Yet there are scattered pockets of “hope” where localized commitment still flickers. A 2019 study shows how proactive public sector leaders in Lebanon actively shift institutional cultures to meet modern demands.

This drive is evident in individual officials who push for modernization against heavy odds, such as those who spent two years overhauling an outdated law to align it with public expectations, or administrators who personally secured advanced international training through the World Bank to reshape local auction regulations and maximize administrative efficiency.

Another example emerged when the Ministry of Public Health and local municipalities bypassed institutional gridlock to independently manage COVID-19 crisis cells, partner with humanitarian actors, and innovate through severe medication shortages. Deep-rooted clientelism leaves this demonstrated local autonomy largely underutilized, but these isolated institutional adaptations offer rare proof that individual integrity and resilience have not been entirely extinguished.

The Institut des Finances Basil Fuleihan is another powerful example of positive public administration, demonstrating how state institutions can drive real social value. By modernizing civil service training and partnering with the World Bank on the landmark procurement reform assessment that laid the foundation for Lebanon’s Public Procurement Law, the Institute has been a vital catalyst for institutional reform.

The Institute has also published clear, user-friendly guides and tools on daily administrative transactions (from taxes to property filings) and citizen budgets—including the most recent one for the Ministry of Social Affairs—to bridge the gap between the state and its citizens and help build enduring civic trust.

More Nuanced Successes Across the Region

These instances of positive public administration extend beyond Lebanon, offering promising blueprints across the region.  Jordan’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is a nuanced case, balancing genuine positive outcomes against real limitations. Despite a decade of delays and criticism over weak public participation, the network has significantly expanded ridership and accessibility since its rollout.

Crucially, a World Bank transport diagnostic highlighted its impact on safety: before the BRT, 62.6% of women reported transit harassment, and nearly half said they had declined a job offer as a result. Beyond measurably improving safety and mobility for vulnerable populations, the system’s well-lit, structured stations have encouraged more people to use public transport—a shift that has helped avoid traffic congestion on major roads while supporting lower carbon emissions and an improvement in air quality.

Another example is Morocco’s ONEE (Office National de l’Électricité et de l’Eau Potable). Its Global Rural Electrification Program (PERG), launched in 1996, raised rural electrification from a staggering 18% to over 99%. By combining grid extensions with solar home systems in remote terrain, the program has been directly linked to improved household income, expanded educational and healthcare access, and reduced dependency on fossil fuels.

These bright spots demonstrate that positive administration is not just a theoretical concept, but an active reality worth building upon. The critical question now is how policymakers can actively foster and protect such environments for positive administration to take root.

The Path Forward

The gap of trust between citizens and governments is one of the deepest crises facing many countries in the Arab World today; Lebanon especially records some of the lowest institutional trust in the region. That gap has been filled by mass emigration and a heavy reliance on family networks or NGOs that filled the vacuum left by weakened state institutions. But when governments deliver even small, visible, and transparent improvements, public trust can steadily rebound. No one pretends systemic reform is easy, especially since patronage networks are deeply entrenched, resources are severely limited, and political elites routinely resist change.  

Yet progress frequently begins at the margins: in municipalities that experiment with crisis management, in agencies that digitize one service at a time, and in academic programs that train future administrators to value ethics over connections.  The sentiment to “Think global, act local” has thus become a necessity.

Positive public administration is a practical combination of fairness, responsiveness, and innovation, one that places citizens and regaining trust at the center of decision-making and implementation. Four practical pillars stand out:

• Rejuvenate the public sector away from reliance on sectarian power by making it leaner and grounding hiring and promotion strictly in professional capability rather than political loyalty.
• Engage communities in real, impactful decision-making rather than token consultation in order to foster inclusive governance and national unity.
• Promote digital transparency by deploying e-government tools that pull administrative processes out of the shadows where corruption thrives.
• Champion ethical leadership, where public officials model strict accountability and a genuine commitment to institutional health through transparent governance and accountable institutions.

If public administration is the primary space where citizens meet the state, it is also exactly where the state can begin to rebuild its legitimacy. Investing in positive public administration is far more than a technical exercise in good governance; it is a vital lifeline for societies seeking stability, functionality, and hope.

I would like to acknowledge Sana Majdalani, a student at King’s College School Wimbledon- UK, for her substantial research contributions to this piece.