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Jordan

Crunched between two conflict zones in Iraq and Israel-Palestine, Jordan is a resource-poor and relatively stable constitutional monarchy that presents itself as an "emerging democracy." For years, the regime has extended and rolled back political liberalization in a constant effort to manage popular dissent from its economic and foreign policies.

In 1989, facing countrywide riots in protest of the IMF-recommended lifting of price subsidies, the late King Hussein called for Jordan's first parliamentary elections since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Various advances followed the election of an opposition-dominated legislature, including greater press freedoms, the legalization of political parties and the adoption of a national charter specifying political rights. But, beginning in 1994, the regime rescinded many of these advances to clamp down on resistance to the peace treaty signed in that year with Israel, as well as ongoing structural adjustment and the increasingly pro-US orientation of Jordan's foreign policy.

The ascent of King Abdallah II to the throne in 1999 raised hopes of renewed reform, but these hopes were soon dashed by the two-year postponement of parliamentary elections and a series of royally decreed "temporary laws" that limit freedom of assembly and the press. When elections were finally held in 2003, the regime had carefully gerrymandered districts to prevent an opposition takeover. These maneuvers took place amidst widespread popular protest against Jordan's ongoing relationship with Israel despite the Palestinian uprising, against the US-led war in Iraq and against the rollbacks of reform themselves.

These issues cannot be dissociated from the "ethnic" makeup of the country. Well over half of Jordan's population is Palestinian in origin -- and Jordan is the only Arab country to have granted its Palestinian refugees citizenship -- yet the monarchy's traditional power base lies among tribes from the East Bank, or Transjordanians. As a result of gerrymandering and patronage, Transjordanians are over-represented in the parliament and the public sector, including the security forces. While Abdallah has tried to create a unified national identity with his "Jordan First" initiative, the root inequalities within the society remain unaddressed, helping to bolster Islamists who are the main opposition bloc. The regime's balancing act tiptoes on.


Facts and Figures »