Political Reform and the Dilemma of Jordan’s Democratic Position

Abstract

This study aims at exploring the determinants of political reform, and the problems of democratic repositioning in Jordan. The study will focus on government's relationship with Parliament, and its stand towards Muslim Brotherhood, with security concerns linked to obstacles that stand in the way of the Jordanian democratic reform, along with Jordan’s rank indicators within the international democratic reports. This study was based on the following hypothesis: There is a positive correlation between the regional and international development trends and the deterioration of the economic conditions in Jordan, on the one hand, and the need for more political reform and democratic positioning, on the other hand. To achieve the study purpose, Historical and Descriptive - analytical methods were used. The study concluded that the political reform process has been stagnant, and it has multiple hitches, which may limit the political authority’s capacity toward sound political position. This issue file is being confronted with a lot of obstacles associated with political, constitutional, social, ……etc, that could be summarized as: 1. The absence of a real political determination to achieve political reform. This is due to the dominance of security concerns over the political mind of the Jordanian State. 2. The inability to unify the Jordanian national identity, because of the strength of subsidiary loyalties, at the expense of the national identity. 3. The Jordanian authority still dominates the parliament and there is no influential parliamentary institution. There is no Separation of powers, as the government has the right to issue the temporary laws. The centrality of the king’s role in the Jordanian political system. The King Appoints the Prime Minister and may dismiss him or accept his resignation. He appoints the Ministers; he also dismisses them or accepts their resignation, upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister, without any influential parliamentary role, despite the first parliament in Jordan was elected in 1929 before the declaration of independence. The study also, concluded that the deface of the political landscape has deepened the weakness of political parties, and the weakness of the opposition and electoral laws. The political reform stopped due to the end of the pushing effects. The Arab Spring have contributed to increase the reform, but the subsequent period has seen a marked decreasing in the political reform process. Keywords: Jordan, Political reform, Political positioning, Islamic movement.