Jordan Watch
An update and analysis of development and reform challenges in Jordan from a social democratic perspective.

Why Political Reform Does not Progress in Jordan?
Friday, July 28, 2006

In this analytical essay published by the Carnige Arab Reform Bulletin (July 2006) Dr Fares Braizat (Researcher and polling expert at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan) provides an assessment of the factors hindering political reform in Jordan.
 
In the essay Dr Braizat's arguments can be summarised as follows:
1- Despite the continuous demands from the King and the political spectrum in Jordan the instability of Jordanian governments and their utter dependence on the king that renders them unable to meet his demands of reform.
 
2- The "reformers" appointed as ministers and advisors to introduce political reform so far have not been, with a few exceptions, political reformers. Concerned with economic rather than political reform, they did not see political reform as a top priority and in fact were more liberal authoritarian than reformist in orientation.
 
3- The king is indirectly liable for his governments’ failings because the people cannot hold the government accountable through periodic elections
 
4- The pattern has been that a government begins working on legislation by debating the ideas with the relevant actors, but is then changed; a new government then reinvents the wheel even though many of the issues may have already been settled.
 
5- The monarchy should lead the process of political reform and allow the coalition that gains a majority in parliament to form a government. This would require adopting a new electoral law creating the necessary conditions for nationwide political coalitions. Fifty percent of parliamentary seats should be elected based on proportional representation.
 
6- Once they have a clear mechanism that encourages them to become active, Jordanians can be relied upon to act in their own interests in the political realm.
 
The full article can be downloaded from

posted by Batir Wardam in Political Reform @ 10:02 PM

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(3) comments


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On July, 28, 2006 9:52 PM , Khalaf
from Jordan said:

They should form a committee to study these ideas. Then a coference can be convened, where all the stakeholders can give their opinion, where the most significant ideas will be watered down, rendering them useless. A after the comittee submits its report, it should be printed on nice paper and a website setup. After a national debate over the committee recomendations, a concensus should form. This will be in the form of a rephrazing of the old ideas. Then, we can have another committee to study the new document.

STOP! I'LL SIGN ANYTHING

On July, 28, 2006 10:50 PM , Batir
from Jordan said:

Khalaf, I understand your frustration. There has been a plethora of papers and very little delivery. However, is the other option to surrender? I mean we all want a modern and democratic Jordan, and we have to seek all options although the hope is no more than 10% but the remaining option is to leave this country divided between corrupt officials, security forces and islamists. I do not want to live in such a state, and I will remain putting any energy I have in pursuing a democratic Jordan.

On July, 29, 2006 5:38 PM , Abu Shreek said:

Great honest points.
As I once mentioned, Dr. Ali Ma7aftha made a similar point in his Democracy class at JU that agrees with both points 3 and 5: "The king has a political and social status (makanah adabiyya wa ijtima3yyeh) that negatively affect the process.
(See my post The Autocratic Democracy)
Let me also add what i told you recently: A majority of the people in charge of setting up the rules for the political reforms are the main benefeceries of the current situation!

By the way, sorry about your Arabic blog. As much as i tried to defend our collective ability to carry out civilized debates, the incident on your blog and a few others,clearly proved that a wide range of people, from the trash to the so-called "educated" who lived (fee amreeka wal dowall il motaqaddimeh) will revert to profane language and personal attacks that will even reach the redlines of family, for the mere reason that they could not defend their arguments.




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