Democracy and development: the case of Jordan
This paper examines the specific case of Jordan’s democratic development in relation to the predictions resulting from applying the Badawi-Makdisi global model to Jordan. In so doing, the paper probes beyond the main global variables and analyses the potential effects of country-specific factors (history, institutions, culture) not likely to be captured by the global model.
It is explained that in varying degrees, a number of factors influenced the democratisation process such as income level, standard of living, education, neighbouring polity, polity of previous period, and historical effects of colonisation. However, two more considerations specific to the Arab region are needed to examine whether the model then come closer to explaining the Arab democracy deficit. These are the interaction of oil-wealth with democracy and the effects of great power politics and ensuing regional conflicts on the democratisation process.
Key points in Jordan’s democratic development include:
- as a result of the number of uprisings staged by Trans-Jordanians against the British colonial rule during the first seven years of its establishment, in 1928 the British established the first mechanisms for limited representation in an attempt to grant a limited voice to the inhabitants of the country and bring them under the sway of the State.
- in the Jordanian case, it is found that the evolution of political institutions within the country’s historical perspective have been influenced early on by the specific colonial background to the formation of first the Emirate of Trans-Jordan and then the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
- the ability of the state to be effective in weakening institutionalised opposition to its rule to create a balanced support base and successfully co-opt the country’s political elite to its less than democratic posture, has been given effective teeth by the rents to the government from aid and official unrequited financial assistance from foreign and Arab countries.
