‘We’ve got this policy, now what?’ The security politics of implementing the Family Protection Law in Jordan

Abstract

In this article, I bring together scholarship from feminist international relations and comparative gender politics to investigate how and why Jordan has implemented its policy addressing domestic violence, the 2008 Family Protection Law. Through a qualitative case study, I find that implementation is partial. Aspects of the policy that elevate Jordan’s status in the international arena and sustain domestic male privilege are implemented. Attempts at implementing aspects of the policy that grant greater autonomy to women are met with intense opposition, which is justified on the basis of preserving state stability. Taken together, this article demonstrates how international pressure and national security (i.e., state-centric) practices combine with domestic conservatism to produce unintended consequences: ineffective violence against women policies that are minimally implemented. The analysis adds nuance to both the feminist international relations and comparative gender politics literatures by demonstrating how domestic gender policymaking processes are influenced by national and international security politics.