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Abstract
The lack of descriptive representation of Palestinians in Jordanian politics has long been the focus of scholars studying the ‘democratic deficit’ in the country. Using two case-studies, that of the quota for women in elected bodies and that of the communal rift in Jordan, this article demonstrates how representation of ideas poses greater challenges to democracy and equality in Jordan than representation as presence. Moreover, representation of ideas of ‘loyal’ constituencies replaced the under-representation of ‘opposition’ constituencies as the significant impediment to the reformist policies of the monarchy.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, for its post-doc scholarship which allowed him to complete the research for this article.
Notes
The descriptive vs. substantive dichotomy merits attention: while representation as presence is indeed about descriptive characteristics, the term ‘substantive’ might be wrongly construed as lack of ‘substance’ in representation as presence. Therefore, I prefer using ‘representation of ideas’ instead or alternatively putting the word ‘substantive’ in inverted commas.
Interviews with female councillors from al-Karak, Jarash and Irbid governorates, summer 2008, and interviews with them published in ad-Dustour, 25 April 2007 and 2 August 2009, and ar-Ra'i, 3 April 2008 and 1 October 2009. I wish to thank Stefanie Nanes for sharing the results of her field research with me during our joint work on the subject of the women's quota in Jordan's municipal councils.
See various ads published in al-Arab al-Yawm, 6 May 2009.
Cf. his interview with CNN, 7 February, 2010 and his interview with The Washington Post, 16 June 2011.
See the king's speech here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfDoJKMPqwA. Interestingly, these specific words were not cited by the local press covering the event. For an analysis of the king's reference to the national identity see, e.g., Hattar Citation(2011).