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Summary

Wasta

A blanket term that encompasses a multitude of informal interactions common in Arab societies employed for faster procurement of needs, mediation of conflict and receipt of personal favours.

Wasta stems from Arab traditional tribal practices of family mediation, and is generally understood to entail the intervention of a third-party patron to secure a service for an individual. However, since the mid-twentieth century it has taken on different forms, including potentially corrupt practices such as nepotism, cronyism, clientelism and patronage in obtaining exclusive access to public-and private-sector resources. Wasta is associated with favouritism, literally translating to “middlemanship”, and has been solidified in contemporary Arab discourse as synonymous with corruption. This is due to the exclusivity of wasta; the practice is reflective of social class, family influence and personal connections. Thus, the majority of people do not have the necessary social capital to deploy wasta when needed. Examples of the applications of wasta may include (but are not limited to): securing a job or promotion, securing a place at a university, skipping a queue or waiting list, speeding up paperwork, and, sometimes, overlooking minor legal violations.

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Watergate

A political corruption scandal in which US president Richard Nixon was implicated in a plot aimed at sabotaging and spying on the Democratic Party, exposed as a result of a break-in in 1972 at the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in the Watergate Office Building in Washington DC.

“Watergate” was subsequently revealed to have been a plot orchestrated by President Nixon and the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP). Nixon and other culprits actively attempted to cover up their involvement including by shredding evidence and halting FBI investigations. However, this conduct was exposed when the Supreme Court ordered the release of the “smoking gun” tape, an audio recording of a meeting in which Nixon is heard formulating a plan to block investigations.

The perpetrators of the break-in were deliberately paid using cash and cashier's cheques in an effort to conceal money flows (see money laundering), but some burglars were on the White House payroll and the numbered bills found were traced back to the banks which had issued them, connecting them to Nixon and CREEP.