Return to democratization or new hybrid regime?: The 2003 elections in Jordan

Middle East Policy

Volumn 11, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 138-151

  Ryan, Curtis R ^a   Schwedler, Jillian ^b  

^a APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 3042717685     PISSN: 10611924     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1061-1924.2004.00158.x     Document Type: Review

References (69)

1. 1 The number of votes cast amounts to approximately one vote per Jordanian, indicating that many voted repeatedly despite paying a fee for each phone call to vote.
2. 2a Laurie A. Brand, “ The Effects of the Peace Process on Political Liberalization in Jordan,” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 28, No. 2, 1999, pp. 52–67.
3. 2b Mehran Kamrava, “ Frozen Political Liberalization in Jordan: The Consequences for Democracy,” Democratization, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1998, pp. 138–157.
4. 3 See, for example, Saeda Kilani, Black Year for Democracy in Jordan: The 1998 Press and Publications Law ( Copenhagen: Euro‐Mediterranean Human Rights Network, 1998).
5. 4 Parts of this article draw on Curtis R. Ryan, “Liberalization and Deliberalization in Jordan,” Perihelion, Online Journal of the European Rim Policy and Investment Council (ERPIC), February 2003; Curtis R. Ryan, “Political Opposition, Democracy, and Jordan's 2003 Elections,” Perihelion, August 2003, online at http://www.erpic.org ; Jillian Schwedler, “Jordan's Democratic Opening and Closing,” Middle East Report Online, July 2002; and Schwedler, “Occupied Maan: Jordan's Closed Military Zone,” Middle East Report Online, December 2002.
6. 5 Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century ( Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991).
7. 6a For general collections surveying the region, see Rex Brynen, Paul Noble and Bahgat Korany, eds., Political Liberalization and Democratization in the Arab World, Volume I: Theoretical Perspectives ( Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1995).
8. 6b Tim Niblock and Emma Murphy, eds., Economic and Political Liberalization in the Middle East ( London: British Academic Press, 1993).
9. 6c Ghassan Salamé, ed., Democracy Without Democrats? The Renewal of Politics in the Muslim World ( London: I.B. Taurus, 1994).
10. 6d Augustus Richard Norton, ed., Civil Society in the Middle East, 2 vols. ( Leiden: E. J. Brill, 199596).
11. 7a For example, see Azzam Tamimi, ed., Power‐Sharing Islam? ( London: Liberty for Muslim World Publications, 1993).
12. 7b Laura Guazzone, ed., The Islamist Dilemma: The Political Role of Islamist Movements in the Contemporary Arab World ( Reading, UK: Ithaca Press, 1995).
13. 7c John L. Esposito and John O. Voll, Islam and Democracy ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1996).
14. 7d John Esposito, ed., Political Islam: Revolution, Radicalism, or Reform? ( Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1997).
15. 7e Fred Halliday, Islam and the Myth of Confrontation ( London: I.B. Taurus, 1997).
16. 7f Ahmad S. Moussalli, ed., Islamic Fundamentalism: Myths and Realities ( Reading, UK: Ithaca Press, 1998).
17. 7g Bruce B. Lawrence, Shattering the Myth: Islam Beyond Violence ( Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998).
18. 7h Vickie Langohr, “ Of Islamists and Ballot Boxes: Rethinking the Relationship between Islamists and Electoral Politics,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 33, November 2001, pp. 591–610.
19. 7i Ahmad S. Moussalli, The Islamic Quest for Democracy, Pluralism, and Human Rights ( Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001).
20. 7j For dissenting views, see Henry Munson, “ Intolerable Tolerance: Western Academic and Islamic Fundamentalism,” Contention, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1996, pp. 99–117.
21. 7k Bassam Tibi, The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder ( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998).
22. 7l Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East ( Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2001).
23. 8a See Thomas Carothers, “ The End of the Transition Paradigm,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 2, January 2002, pp. 5–21.
24. 8b Daniel Brumberg, “ The Trap of Liberalized Autocracy,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 4, October 2002, pp. 56–68.
25. 9a On the origins of democratization and liberalization in Jordan, see Rex Brynen, “ Economic Crisis and Post‐Rentier Democratization in the Arab World: The Case of Jordan,” Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 25, No. 1, 1992, pp. 69–97.
26. 9b Brynen, “ The Politics of Monarchical Liberalization: Jordan,” Political Liberalization and Democratization in the Arab World. Vol. 2: Comparative Experiences, eds. Bahgat Korany, Rex Brynen, and Paul Noble ( Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998), pp. 71–100.
27. 9c Laurie A. Brand, “ Economic and Political Liberalization in a Rentier Economy: The Case of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” Privatization and Liberalization in the Middle East, eds. Iliya Harik and Denis J. Sullivan ( Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992), pp. 167–188.
28. 9d Mehran Kamrava, “ Frozen Political Liberalization in Jordan: The Consequences for Democracy,” Democratization, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1998: pp. 138–157.
29. 9e Marc Lynch, State Interests and Public Spheres: The International Politics of Jordan's Identity ( New York: Columbia, 1999).
30. 9f Malik Mufti, “ Elite Bargains and the Onset of Political Liberalization in Jordan,” Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1, 1999, pp. 100–129.
31. 9g Katherine Rath, “ The Process of Democratization in Jordan,” Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3, 1994, pp. 530–557.
32. 9h Glenn E. Robinson, “ Defensive Democratization in Jordan,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3, 1998, pp. 387–410.
33. 9i Curtis R. Ryan, “ Elections and Parliamentary Democratization in Jordan,” Democratization, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1998, pp. 176–196.
34. 9j Ryan, Jordan in Transition: From Hussein to Abdullah ( Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2002).
35. 10 Kamel S. Abu Jaber and Schirin H. Fathi, “ The 1989 Jordanian Parliamentary Elections,” Orient, Vol. 31, 1990, pp. 67–86.
36. 11 Ryan interview with Dr. Abd al‐Latif Arabiyyat. Amman, February 25, 1993.
37. 12 Ryan interview at the Jordanian parliament. Amman, February 1993.
38. 13 Ryan interview. Amman, March 1993.
39. 14a For Jordanian assessments of the kingdom's emerging party spectrum, see Ahmad Abu Khusa, al‐Dimuqratiyya wa al‐Ahzab al‐Siyasiyya al‐Urduniyya [Democracy and Jordanian Political Parties] ( Amman: Middle East Publishing Company, 1991).
40. 14b Marwan Ahmad Sulayman Al‐Abdalat, Kharita al‐Ahzab al‐ Siyasiyya al‐Urduniyya [Map of Jordanian Political Parties] ( Amman: Dar al‐Ubra, 1992).
41. 14c Sulayman Sways, “ Kharita al‐Ahzab al‐Siyasiyya fi al‐Urdun ” [A Map of Political Parties in Jordan] al-Urdun al-Jadid, 1990, pp. 122–141.
42. 14d Ranad al‐Khatib Iyad, al‐Tayarat al‐Siyasiyya fi al‐Urdun wa Nas al‐Mithaq al‐Watani al‐Urduni [ Political Tendencies in Jordan and Text of the Jordanian National Charter ] ( Amman, 1991).
43. 14e Note that each of these studies was published even before the political parties law finally emerged in 1993. It had long been anticipated. After 1993, the al‐Urdun al‐Jadid Research Center began publishing a series of studies of parties, elections, civil society and democracy in Jordan, including
44. 14f Hani Hourani, Talib Awad, Hamad Al‐Dabbas, and Amr Shanikat, eds., al‐Ahzab al‐Siyasiyya al‐Urduniyya [The Jordanian Political Parties] ( Amman: Markaz al‐Urdun al‐Jadid li al‐Dirasat, 1993).
45. 14g For Jordanian assessments of the democratization process more generally, see, among others, Husayn Abu Ruman, ed., Aqd Min al‐Dimuqratiyya fi al‐Urdun [A Decade of Democracy in Jordan] 19891999 ( Amman: Markaz al‐Urdun al‐Jadid li al‐Dirasat, 2001).
46. 14h Sashban Khulayfat, al‐Dimuqratiyya fi al‐Urdun [Democracy in Jordan] ( Amman: Dar Afaq, 1993).
47. 14i Tariq Khuri, Mustaqbal al‐Urdun: al‐Dimuqratiyya, al‐Huwiyya, al‐Tahdiyyat [The Future of Jordan: Democracy, Identity, Challenges] Amman, 1990.
48. 15 Ryan interview at the Jordanian parliament. Amman, February 1993.
49. 16 Abla M. Amawi, “ The 1993 Elections in Jordan,” Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3, Summer 1994, pp. 15–27.
50. 17 Ryan interview with Jordanian democracy activist. Amman, July 2001.
51. 18 Ibid.
52. 19 Jillian Schwedler, “More than a Mob: The Dynamics of Political Demonstrations in Jordan,” Middle East Report, Spring 2003.
53. 20 Most political parties and activists estimated the total number of temporary laws to be around 120–150. Schwedler interviews with activists and opposition political figures, Amman, July 2003.
54. 21 Schwedler interview with Mansour. Amman, December 7, 2003.
55. 22 Jillian Schwedler, “Occupied Maan, Jordan's Closed Military Zone.”
56. 23a Marion Boulby, The Muslim Brotherhood and the Kings of Jordan, 1945–1993 ( Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1999).
57. 23b Quintan Wiktorowicz, The Management of Islamic Activism: Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and State Power in Jordan ( Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000).
58. 24 Schwedler interviews with IAF Secretary‐General Hamzeh Mansour, IAF Chair of the Shura Council Abd al‐Latif Arabiyyat, former Professional Associations Complex President Muhammad Oran, and a number of independent political activists. Amman, June‐December 2003.
59. 25 On the 1999 municipal elections, see Curtis R. Ryan, “ Political Liberalization and Monarchical Succession in Jordan,” Israel Affairs, Vol. 9, No. 3, Spring 2003, pp. 129–140.
60. 26 Scott Greenwood, “ Jordan's ‘New Liberal Bargain’: The Political Economy of Regime Security,” Middle East Journal, Vol. 57, No. 2, Spring 2003.
61. 27 The doctors', lawyers', engineers', agricultural engineers', pharmacists' and dentists' associations have been much more oppositional in their political activism than have the “poorer,” more labor‐oriented associations, notably the journalists' association, which is largely seen as overrun by pro‐government informants.
62. 28 If a number of women won their seats outright, their number would be subtracted from the six–if one woman was elected outright, five seats would go to those who had won the largest percentage of votes in her district. In the end, none would have succeeded without the quota system.
63. 29 For a detailed discussion of IAF and Muslim Brotherhood positions toward female candidates, see Janine Astrid Clark and Jillian Schwedler, “ Who Opened the Window? Women's Activism Within Islamist Parties Comparative Politics, Vol. 35, No. 3, 2003.
64. 30 “ Islamic Action Front Promises Tough Stance in Parliament,” The Star ( Amman), July 6, 2003.
65. 31 Schwedler interviews with government officials and opposition figures. Amman, November‐December 2003.
66. 32a Daniel Brumberg, “ The Trap of Liberalized Autocracy,” Islam and Democracy in the Middle East, eds. Larry Diamond et. al. ( Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), pp. 35–47.
67. 32b Thomas Carothers, “ The End of the Transitions Paradigm,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 2, January 2002, pp. 5–21.
68. 33 H.M. King Abdullah II, “Speech to the 14th Parliament's First Ordinary Session,” Amman, Jordan, December 1, 2003. The text of the king's speech is available online as www.jordanembassyus.org.
69. 34 Schwedler interview with Masri. Amman, June 18, 2002.