Abstract

Critics of the U. S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) have claimed that the FCPA has destabilized friendly regimes, hurts U. S. exports, and constitutes moral imperialism. This article evaluates the impact of the FCPA on 26 Middle Eastern and North African states over the past decade. It traces host-country response to specific FCPA-related scandals and explores the possible destablizing effects of these scandals; investigates the impact of the FCPA on U. S. competitiveness in the Middle East, particularly vis-a-vis European and Asian competition; and discusses the role the FCPA may have played in curbing corruption in the Middle East.