Side Effects of Regime Building in Jordan: The State and the Nation

Abstract

Both the September 1970 Jordanian ‘civil war’ and the signing of the Jordanian National Charter in 1991 mark critical junctures in the processes of state, regime, and nation building in the kingdom. The subduing of the fedayeen in 1970–71 eliminated the final significant challenger to the sovereignty of the Jordanian state. The National Charter brought historic opposition groups together to grant legitimacy to the monarchical regime. Both the solidification of state power and the consolidation of the regime, however, had the unintended side effect of undermining the building of national unity on foundations other than a monarchical ‘civic’ nationalism.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Jack D. Gordon Institute of Florida International University for its support, as well as Joseph Nevo, Camelia Suleiman, Richard Olson, and Barry Levitt for their comments.

Notes

 1. Patrick H. O'Neil, Essentials of Comparative Politics, 2nd ed. (New York: W. W. Norton & Co. 2007) pp.20–5; Nazih N. Ayubi, Overstating the Arab State: Politics and Society in the Middle East (New York: I. B. Tauris 1995) pp.1–37; Roger Owen, State, Power, and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge 2000) pp.3–7; Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 1983); Joel S. Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States: State–Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1988).

 2. O'Neil (note 1) pp.20–5; Owen (note 1) pp.3–7; Juan J. Linz and Alfred C. Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 1996); Russell E. Lucas, ‘Monarchical Authoritarianism: Survival and Political Liberalization in a Middle Eastern Regime Type,’ International Journal of Middle East Studies 35/4 (2004) pp.103–19.

 3. O'Neil (note 1) pp.3–7; Gellner (note 1); John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith, Nationalism (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 1994).

 4. Raymond Hinnebusch, ‘The Politics of Identity in Middle East International Relations’, in Louise Fawcett (ed.) International Relations of the Middle East (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 2005); Shibley Telhami and Michael N. Barnett (eds) Identity and Foreign Policy in the Middle East (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 2002) pp.13–6.

 5. Ma'an Abu Nowar, The History of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 2 vols (London: Ithaca Press 1989, 2001); Philip Robins, A History of Jordan (New York: Cambridge University Press 2004); Eugene Rogan and Tariq Tell (eds) Village Steppe and State: The Social Origins of Modern Jordan (New York: St Martin's Press 1994); Andrew Shryock, Nationalism and the Genealogical Imagination: Oral History and Textual Authority in Tribal Jordan (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press 1997); Mary C. Wilson, King Abdullah, Britain, and the Making of Jordan (New York: Cambridge University Press 1987).

 6. Joseph Nevo, King Abdullah and Palestine: A Territorial Ambition (New York: St Martin's Press 1996).

 7. Robins (note 5); Uriel Dann, King Hussein and the Challenge of Arab Radicalism: Jordan 1955–1967 (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 1989).

 8. Joseph Massad, Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan (New York: Columbia University Press 2001) p.240.

 9. See, for example, Queen Noor, Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life (New York: Miramax Books 2003) pp.115–23; Shryock (note 5) p.72; Peter Snow, Hussein: A Biography (New York: Robert B. Luce, Inc. 1972) pp.208–36.

10. Massad (note 8) pp.239–40; Adnan Abu Odeh, Jordanians, Palestinians, and the Hashemite Kingdom in the Middle East Peace Process (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press 1999) pp.170–3; Yazid Sayigh, Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949–1993 (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 1997) pp.174–84.

11. Abu Odeh (note 10) pp.174–92; Massad (note 8) pp.240–5; Sayigh (note 10) pp.217–81; Peter Snow, Leila's Hijack War; The True Story of 25 Days in September, 1970 (London: Pan Books 1970).

12. Massad (note 8) p.240; Sayigh (note 10) p.216; John Laffin, Fedayeen: The Arab–Israeli Dilemma (New York: Free Press 1973) p.61.

13. Former Jordanian army officer (name withheld), personal communication.

14. Abu Odeh (note 10) p.183.

15. Although they had tried to build – and buy – support from various tribes and groups but only with limited success; former PFLP activist (name withheld), personal communication; see also note 13.

16. Sayigh (note 10) pp.246–7.

17. Laurie A. Brand, Palestinians in the Arab World: Institution Building and the Search for State (New York: Columbia University Press 1988) p.184.

18. Abu Odeh (note 10) p.183.

19. Massad (note 8) p.249.

20. Massad (note 8) p.247.

21. Ervand Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolutions (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1982) p.441.

22. Adnan Abu Odeh in Jordan Times, 8 March 1990.

23. See Russell E. Lucas, Institutions and the Politics of Survival in Jordan: Domestic Responses to External Challenges, 1988–2001 (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press 2005) p.34.

24. Lamis Andoni, ‘Incorporating All Trends,’ Middle East International 13 April 1990 p.10.

25. See for example, Abd al-Salam al-Majali, Rihalat al-'Amr (Amman: Sharakat al-Matbu'at lil-tawziyy' wal-nashr 2004); Al-Dustour 24 January 1990 pp.11–2, 21 April 1990 p.10, 22 April 1990 p.10; Al-Sha'ab 24 April 1990 pp.10–1.

26. ‘Proceedings of the Royal Committee for Drafting the National Charter,’ (unpublished documents in Arabic of the Royal Hashemite Court) Session 1, 21 April 1990 p.8.

27. The chapters were titled: ‘The Charter: Rationale and Aims,’ ‘The State of Law and Political Pluralism,’ ‘Jordan's National Security,’ ‘The Economy,’ ‘The Social Aspect,’ ‘Culture, Education, Science and Information,’ ‘The Jordanian–Palestinian Relationship,’ ‘Jordanian, Arab, Islamic and International Relations.’ A ‘Historical Introduction’ opened the document.

28. Al-Mithaq al-Watani al-Urduni (Amman: Directorate of the Military Press 1990) pp.25, 32. Online in English at < http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/charter-national.html> (accessed 21 Oct. 2007). See also Lucas (note 23) pp.41–4.

29. Adnan Abu Odeh, personal communication 14 June 1998.

30. Al-Mithaq (note 28) p.49.

31. Al-Mithaq (note 28) p.50. Online in English at < http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/charter-national.html> (accessed 21 Oct. 2007).

32. Notably Awad Khleifat's comments in ‘Proceedings of the Royal Committee for Drafting the National Charter’ (unpublished documents in Arabic of the Royal Hashemite Court) Session 5, 16 May 1990 pp.33–6.

33. Al-Mithaq (note 28) p.33; Lucas (note 23) pp.43, 54–8.

34. Massad (note 8), 275; Abu Odeh (note 10), 279.

35. Al-Mithaq (note 28) p.18.

36. Not that they are actually primordial, but they have been constructed they exert a more nature-like justification. James Fearon, ‘What is Identity (As We Now Use the Word)?’ Unpublished manuscript, 1999; David Laitin, Identity in Formation: The Russian-Speaking Populations in the Near Abroad (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 1998); Stephen van Evera, ‘Primordialism Lives!’ APSA-Comparative Politics Newsletter (Winter 2001), pp.20–2.

37. Although the idea of a confederation between Jordan and Palestine frequently re-emerges as a solution to the Palestinian issue.