Elite Bargains and the Onset of Political Liberalization in Jordan

Abstract

From the perspective of approaches focusing on political culture or social movements, Jordan seems an unlikely candidate for political liberalization. Yet, it has experienced the most far-reaching liberalization of any Arab country. By viewing the transition process as an unfolding series of bargains between government and opposition elites, this study accommodates both the reality that the decisions taken at each step reflected the self-interested calculations of a small group of people and the equally undeniable fact that those calculations were forged in a historical and normative context that constrained certain options while fostering others. This study traces the predispositions and calculations that propelled government and opposition elites from one decision locus to the next to illustrate how the interaction of a monarchy and an Islamist-dominated opposition actually promoted the initiation of political liberalization in Jordan and how the subsequent practice of political contestation generated a momentum of its own.