Under the Ba'th regime, the civil service has been destroyed as a career path and as an efficient administrative arm of the executive. The management models that have been adopted for decades were wholly unsuited, and this has resulted in low productivity and inefficient service. Many civil servants find themselves with too little work; others are overloaded with commitments which often leads to stress and nervous breakdowns. The actual number of civil servants continues to rise as the regime attempts to mask the unemployment problem by overstaffing some departments.

In addition, the civil servant has to contend with a culture of corruption rampant in the public sector in Syria. A civil servant who does not accept bribes will be eased out of his job by corrupt elements. The civil servant also has to contend with a poor work environment as government buildings are rarely ever refurbished.

The Movement for Justice and Development sympathizes with civil servants and proposes that a future government should undertake measures to make their job easier. We propose that a single window process is adopted so that all paperwork is dealt with by one employee trained in customer service.

To stamp out corruption, administrative fees should be paid for electronically rather than by cash money, and the culture of issuing receipts should be adopted.