Deliberalization in Jordan

Issue Date January 2003
Volume 14
Issue 1
Page Numbers 137-144
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The Kingdom of Jordan has returned to the brink of martial law. In the face of structural adjustment and the Middle East peace process, both political liberalization and deliberalization have been used as regime survival strategies. King Hussein liberalized Jordanian politics in the late 1980s. However, the monarchy reversed its tactics as domestic opposition threatened to mobilize domestic discontent caused by the peace treaty with Israel and the new Palestinian Intifada. In a U.S.-led war on Iraq, King Abdullah II may need to resort to military rule to quell the potential for an insurrection and maintain his reign.

About the Author

Russell E. Lucas is a visiting assistant professor of political science at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He has spent three years living in the Middle East, and is completing a book entitled Institutions and the Politics of Survival in Jordan: Domestic Responses to External Challenges.

View all work by Russell E. Lucas