Political Reforms

Abstract

Even though Jordan is still an authoritarian regime, over time it has expanded its democratic façade. The history of political reform after 1989 is closely interlinked with the monarchy’s foreign policy as well as stability and security concerns. Between 1989 and 1993, an unprecedented opening of the political scene took place as a defensive reaction of the regime to both internal and external pressures. It was quickly reverted by King Hussein after 1993 when a major re-orientation in Jordanian foreign policy was accompanied by a crackdown on political freedoms and civil liberties. With the new monarch, King Abdullah II, ascending the throne in 1999, hopes were raised that further liberalisation of the political system was possible. However, key stakeholders of the process quickly became disillusioned when the security agenda co-opted democratic rhetoric concerning regional developments. It resulted in the stabilisation of the authoritarian regime, with a new impulse for change, both positive and negative, re-appearing only in the wake of the Arab protests at the end of 2010 when the process of hybridisation of the political system began.