The United Nations recently released its global e-government survey for 2012, which evaluates government use of internet technology to interact with its citizens.  Those Arab states that experienced government turmoil during the past year, especially the Arab Spring states, tended to decline in rankings.  In contrast, most other countries increased in ranking, with the UAE reaching the top place at 28th internationally.

 

All North African states declined in ranking this year with the exception of Algeria, whose ranking was unchanged at 131, and Libya, which received no score, but was ranked 114 in 2010.  Tunisia, home of the Arab Spring, declined 37 places to 103.  Egypt fell 21 places to 107, Morocco fell 15 places to 141, and Sudan declined 11 places to 165.

 

Most of the other Arab states increased their rankings.  UAE was the highest ranked, increasing 21 spots to 28.  Saudi Arabia increased 17 spots to 41, Qatar increased 14 spots to 48, Oman increased 18 spots to 64, Lebanon increased 6 spots to 87, and Iraq was unchanged at 136.

 

There were a few exceptions to these geographical distinctions, mostly in states that experienced some sort of turmoil.  Bahrain, one of the two Gulf States to see the most Arab Spring protests, declined 23 spots to a still-respectable 36.  The other, Yemen, declined 3 spots to 167.  Kuwait, which saw a highly contentious change in government, declined 13 spots to 63.

 

Jordan declined the most of any Arab state, dropping 47 places in the rankings to number 98.  The country has been struck by skyrocketing electricity prices, leading to government austerity measures and a wave of labor protests.  Haitham Qaisi, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said Saturday that, “The drop in ranking is mainly due to the slow pace in introducing e-services to the public. The lack of financial allocations for e-government services is negatively affecting our progress in this regard.”  He also indicated that, “The lack of necessary funds is also affecting the upgrade of infrastructure required for introducing additional e-government services.”

 

In contrast to the trends listed above, Syria rose in the UN’s rankings by six places to 127.