Bad governance is a choice

Sure, governments in the Middle East could tax their citizens more thereby catalyzing a more efficient bureaucracy, economic development, and political accountability. The first doesn’t sound so bad, the second sounds pretty good, but the third…well, lots of leaders would rather not be accountable, so they stick with inefficient bureaucracies and low levels of economic development. It’s a bad tradeoff for most people, but not those at the top. Bad governance is typically a choice, not an accident.