Municipalities Go to Market: Economic Reform and Political Contestation in Jordan

Abstract

Using the case of international donors' municipal strengthening and poverty alleviation projects in Jordanian municipalities, this article traces how local elites adapt to and adapt neo-liberal reforms to local dynamics and agendas. It demonstrates how economic reforms at the municipal level are not driving forces in and of themselves, but are subordinated to established patterns of political contestation among local actors who seize on the opportunities that reforms offer to advance their political agendas. The article is based on interviews gathered in 2010 and 2012.

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the help of Hilda Ayoob, Sylvia Bergh, Emanuela Dalmasso, Jordi Diez, Oula Farawati, Eleanor Gao, Ellen Lust, Chris Parker, Jillian Schwedler, Mohammad Yaghi, the anonymous reviewers and the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada in the researching and writing of this article.

Notes

¹ Available at http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO = 14106; http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO = 14117; http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO = 14104; www.jordantimes.com/?news = 42027 (accessed 31 October 2011).

² At the time of writing, the number had not been finalized.

³ Individuals and their descendants who were living in the area that became Transjordan in 1921 and in the east bank of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1948 commonly are referred to as Jordanians of Jordanian descent or East Jordanians.

⁴ The boundaries of municipalities do not follow the boundaries of the larger administrative units. A municipal boundary may overlap with the boundary of a liwa or qada but in other cases may not.

⁵ Historically, municipalities have been periodically closed or annulled and then re-established (Reimer, 2005).

⁶ MENA Election Guide – Jordan: http://www.mena-electionguide.org/print.aspx?artid = 89 (accessed 13 July 2012).

⁷ Municipalities with tourist sites receive inadequate additional finances in order to pay for additional expenses.

⁸ Limited amendments were made to the law in 2011.

⁹ Former mayor, Interview with author, 29 January 2010.

¹⁰ Former mayor, Interview with author, 29 January 2010

¹¹ Tribes are based on actual or perceived kinship or descent. A clan is a sub-group of a tribe.

¹² Women gained the right to vote and be elected in 1982.

¹³ Jordan's National Human Rights Centre documented the intervention by security and administrative bodies in favour of certain candidates at the expense of their rivals. Pressure also was put on other candidates to quit the ballot process. Available at http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/227012 (accessed 27 April 2012).

¹⁴ Interview with author, 27 March 2012 (accessed 27 April 2012).

¹⁵ For a discussion of the increase in tribal violence see Schwedler (2010).

¹⁶ Musa Shteiwi, Center for Strategic Studies, Interview with author, 21 March 2012.

¹⁷ Interview with Mohammad Yaghi on behalf of author, 27 February 2012.

¹⁸ These problems also are a result of the fact that the Audit Bureau examines municipalities' finances but not the budget-making process.

¹⁹ Mohammad al-Masri, Center for Strategic Studies, Interview with author, 24 March 2012.

²⁰ Alliances also became more unstable with clan members, for example, rejecting the alliance candidate.

²¹ Available at http://mideastposts.com/2011/10/14/jordans-municipal-mess-leads-to-protest/ (accessed 31 October 2011).

²² MOMA, interview with author, Amman, 20 January 2010.

²³ European Union, interview with author, Amman, 18 January 2010.

²⁴ MCC is a United States government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries.

²⁵ Mohammad Taamneh, Jadara University, Interview with author, 19 January 2010.

²⁶ MOMA, interview with author, Amman, 20 January 2010; Cities and Villages Development Bank, interview with author, Amman, 21 January 2010.

²⁷ MOMA, interview with author, Amman, 20 January 2010.

²⁸ Interview with Yaghi on behalf of author, 27 February 2012.

²⁹ Interviews with Yaghi on behalf of author, 7 March 2012, 10 March 2012.

³⁰ Interviews with Yaghi on behalf of author, 27 February 2012, 9 March 2012.

³¹ Interview with Yaghi on behalf of author, 13 February 2012.

³² Interview with Yaghi on behalf of author, 27 February 2012.

³³ For Arab Spring protestors' demands, see Ryan (2011).