Hashemite Regime Research Articles

Jordan’s Strategic Alliance With the West to Protect the Hashemite Regime

Jordan’s strategic alliance with the Western countries was established at the same time as the establishment of the state. It was a survival tool for the Hashemite regime which was perceived in the West and the Middle East in particular as a weak and vulnerable regime. The internal and external threats, as well as the coup attempts, were many and therefore the regime had to create a defense alliance with a Western power. Naturally, Britain was the first security support for the Hashemite regime and as its position in the Middle East declined at the end of the 1950s, the United States replaced Britain and became the Western power that protected the Hashemite regime. This was due to its pro-Western policy. Jordan receives the largest foreign aid from America (after Israel), is involved in security projects, participates in training with the American army and with Western countries, and is a partner with them in the fight against global terrorism. However, it should be mentioned that Israel also took a significant part in the defense of the Hashemite regime and was involved, officially and unofficially, in a number of operations starting in the 1950s. At that time, Israel’s perception of security took shape, which saw the existence of the Hashemite regime in Jordan as an Israeli interest, and therefore did everything possible to prevent its fall.

The Hashemite Regime on Jordanian Postage Stamps: A Visual History of Nation-Building

This study will examine the political use of stamps to preserve the Hashemite heritage. It will focus on how Jordanian stamps combine images of the Hashemite royal family with Arab, Islamic, and Palestine-themed symbols to strengthen the legitimacy and stability of the Hashemite monarchy and develop a Jordanian national identity. In the first period (1921–1947), stamps emphasized images of King Abdullah I, founder and first monarch of the Emirate of Transjordan, to bolster legitimacy of Hashemite rule in Transjordan and forge a bond between Transjordanians and Hashemites. In the second period (1948–1967), Palestine motifs complimented images of the Hashemites to construct a hybrid identity consisting of one Jordanian family including Transjordanians and Palestinians. In the third period (1972–1999), Transjordanian, Arab and Islamic, and military themes accompanied Hashemite images. This tumultuous period witnessed Israel’s conquest of the West Bank, the 1971 Black September insurgency between the Jordanian army and fedayeen, and King Hussein’s West Bank disengagement decision in 1988. While Palestinian and Transjordanian themes fluctuated, recurrence of Hashemite images and symbols sought to convince Jordanians that the kingdom’s long-term stability and security will always be destined with the monarchy even if its borders or relationship with the Palestinians change.

War in the air: Israel and Jordan in the dogfight

ABSTRACT The Israeli and Jordanian air forces were established during the 1948 war. While the Israeli air force did not enjoy prestige, the Jordanian air force enjoyed substantial budgets from its inception. However, in all the skirmishes it faced against the Israeli air force in the 1960s and in the 1967 war it suffered defeat. In addition to the lack of training and skill of the Jordanian pilots, the main reason for this was the lack of loyalty of the Jordanian pilots to the Hashemite regime, which hindered the development of the Jordanian air force prior to the 1967 war.

The Secret Negotiations between Israel and Jordan over Routine Security Measures, 1967–1971

ABSTRACT: The phenomenon of the secret bilateral negotiations that took place between Israel and Jordan over routine security measures was unique in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel had exhorted Jordan to suppress the Palestinian organizations' Fidaʾī activity, and the expectation was high that the combination of political pressure and military retaliation would force King Hussein to quell the Fida'iyyun. The Israelis tried to differentiate between the Fida'iyyun and the political situation while the Hashemite regime sought to restrain Israel's responses by laying out its efforts to suppress Fidaʾī activity. King Hussein's strategy hinged on progress in the political arena and a corresponding ability or intention to suppress the Fida'iyyun without destabilizing his regime. Although the IDF ousted the guerrillas from the West Bank and blocked them from the Jordan Valley and the eastern border, it failed to eliminate them, and the mortar fire and rocket barrages on Beit She'an and the Jordan Valley settlements persisted until the eruption of civil war in Jordan in September 1970. In this regard, Israel's policy of retaliation was unsuccessful, and the guerrilla bases were ultimately eradicated by and large due to the threat they posed as "a state within a state" to the Hashemite regime. The talks between Israel and Jordan are examined here via the diaries of Yaakov Herzog who was Director of the Prime Minister's Office.

Jordanian stamps of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem: 1967-1989

ABSTRACT Jordanian postage stamp depictions of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem demonstrate how the Hashemite regime aims to bolster its legitimacy, balance relations with the PLO and Israel, affirm domestic and international sympathy and support to administer the Muslim holy places, and convey the kingdom’s close attachment to the Palestinian issue. These depictions aim to create the additional impression that due to Jordan’s special role, it has a strong stake in the stability west of the River and should be consulted in any political settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. Jordanian stamp depictions of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem are distinguished from other countries due to the Hashemite guardianship claim since 1924, Jordan’s annexation of Eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1950, and Jordan’s interpretation of UN Resolution 242 that described these lands as Jordanian and should be returned under Hashemite sovereignty. This study aims to chronicle and analyse Jordanian stamp depictions from 1967 to 1989, one year after King Hussein’s decision to disengagement legal and administrative ties to the West Bank.

The Limits of Détente: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1969–1973

The Limits of Détente: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1969–1973

Reclaiming Neoliberal Amman: The Role of Space in Jordanian Contentious Politics

Abstract Jordan is often discounted in comparison to its regional counterparts since the “Arab Spring.” With the Hashemite regime still in power a decade later, have Jordanians given up on calling for change? On the contrary, Jordanians have continued to mobilize since the hirak from 2011 to 2013. In all contentious mobilizations, Jordanians challenge the neoliberal economic policies pushed by the Hashemite regime through subsequent governments. This essay will look at two recent rejections of neoliberalism, the 2018 protest wave against an imf-sponsored tax bill and the historic 2019 public school teachers strike. How does space fit into these contentious actions? Why did protesters and strikers choose certain sites of contention? This essay argues contentious sites in the 2018 and 2019 waves of protest in Amman were symbolic rejections of neoliberalism.

The Question of the Legitimacy of the Hashemite Regime in Jordan: the Islamic Radical Organizations, the Western Territories and Israel

Abstract This article explores the question of the legitimacy of the Hashemite regime in Jordan. Jordanian public opinion, on the one hand, recognizes the regime, in large part because of its genealogical descent from the Prophet Muhammad. Radical Islamic organizations, on the other hand, reject it for its ties to the West and Israel. The article examines how the views of Islamic movements towards the Hashemite regime have evolved. The Muslim Brotherhood originally recognized the legitimacy of the Hashemite regime, but changed that position in response to Jordan’s 1994 peace treaty with Israel. al-Qāʿidah and ISIS have never recognized Hashemite rule as legitimate. They have tried to undermine its political stability and, indeed, to overthrow it, rejecting its secularism and cooperation with Israel and the West. The terrorist organizations al-Qāʿidah and ISIS find support and sympathy among Jordanians, but as they committed more terrorist attacks, the Jordanian public has turned away from them and its support for the Hashemite regime has grown. The Hashemite regime thus remains stable and strong and enjoys legitimacy in the eyes of the majority of Jordanians.

A Primer for a New Terrain: Palestinian Schooling in Jordan, 1950

This article offers a close reading of the first geography textbook printed by the Ministry of Education after the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan annexed the West Bank in 1950. Examining the Hashemite regime's early curricular attempts to incorporate its new Palestinian citizens, refugees and otherwise, the article highlights the tactics used to achieve these ends, namely a topographic centralization of Jordan, an erasure of human geography in favor of a natural one, and the foreclosure of other forms of national attachment and belonging. The discussion seeks to expand our understanding of one of the most significant narrative materials confronted by Palestinians in the aftermath of the Nakba, seeing in it a possible mechanism by which to understand the challenges to Palestinian demands for a self-determined education.

LEAVENED APPREHENSIONS: BREAD SUBSIDIES AND MORAL ECONOMIES IN HASHEMITE JORDAN

This article analyzes the microprocesses that imbue bread with meaning and the macropolitics that shape its subsidized provision. It begins by outlining bread’s multiple forms of value and significance, some easily quantifiable, others not. It problematizes the predominant approach to studying moral economies before putting forth an alternative framework. Drawing on eighteen months of fieldwork in Jordan, the following empirical sections examine the different ways in which bureaucrats, bakers, and ordinary citizens portray the government’s universal subsidy of Arabic bread. I unpack the diverse opinions encountered in the field and discuss their links to the Hashemite regime’s polyvalent legitimating discourse. The article then dissects the politics of provisions that contribute to the bread subsidy’s paradoxical persistence. It concludes by considering the relationship between moral economies, opposition politics, and authoritarian power in the context of Jordan’s ongoing food subsidy debate.

Between reform and Islam: The Arab spring in Jordan 2011–2014

ABSTRACTThis article discusses the Arab Spring in Jordan and the reasons the Hashemite regime was able to survive it. Liberals, retired military officers, young people, members of tribes, and members of the Muslim Brotherhood all participated in the demonstrations against the regime, which began in January 2011. In the beginning, it seemed that diversified demonstrations would bring about the regime’s collapse, as happened in other Arab countries. But in the end, it turned out that each group acted in its own interests. Tribal leaders worried about economic concerns, liberals sought to promote political reform, and the Muslim Brotherhood demanded the establishment of an Islamic caliphate. The lack of a common goal combined with Jordan’s policy of allowing demonstrations free from the fear of violent repression, sapped protesters’ motivation and minimized the number of participants. The fear of the type of anarchy and terror seen in Syria and Egypt also frightened the protesters and led them to the conclusion that it is better to live in an undemocratic but stable regime than pursue a fight for democracy that might end badly. Ultimately, it was King Abdullah’s astute political strategy in combination with international contingencies that enabled Jordan’s Hashemite regime to survive the Arab Spring.

From cooperation to normalization? Jordan–Israel relations since 1967

This article deals with the relations between Jordan and Israel from 1967 until 2015. The mutual interest of the Hashemite regime and the Zionist movement, namely to oppose the Palestinians, created the first opportunity for cooperation, which developed into economic ties and intelligence exchanges during the reign of King Abdullah I. A real strategic alliance between Jordan and Israel was formed in the 1950s, when Egyptian President Gamal Abd al-Nasser, together with other nationalist Arab elements, tried to subvert King Hussein’s regime and topple him. Israel unhesitatingly came to the side of the Hashemite ruler to protect Jordanian territorial sovereignty. This perception of Jordan informed Israel’s policy, which aimed to aid Jordan in confronting new challenges to the regime. The fact that Israel has stood by the Hashemite regime through most of its existence indicates a strategic partnership that will sustain, even if the peace treaty were to be revoked one day.

Jordan’s self-fulfilling prophecy: the production of feeble political parties and the perceived perils of democracy

This article analyses the depiction of political parties in a ‘hybrid regime’ so as to explain how state-sponsored articulatory practices contribute to the discrediting of potential opponents. Through an examination of textbooks, speeches and government documents combined with semi-structured interviews and participant observation, it dissects how tropes concerning party weakness or extremism make Jordan appear unprepared for democracy. Making the legal opposition seem menacing or incompetent helps the Hashemite regime legitimize the haphazard pace of political reforms. It is a crucial strategy through which the monarchy maintains the backing or tepid compliance of foreign and local supporters. Yet still, the discursive features of authoritarianism, in Jordan and elsewhere, continue to receive short shrift. Far from epiphenomenal, the monarchy’s discursive practices shape the conceptual universe and institutional contexts in which politics takes place.

The War Against Terrorism and For Stability of the Hashemite Regime: Jordanian Intelligence Challenges in the 21st Century

Since its establishment in 1921, the Jordanian Hashemite regime has endured uprisings and coup attempts from Jordanians, Palestinians, and foreigners. Jordanian intelligence, which has played a sig...

“Our Most Dependable Allies”: Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Eisenhower Doctrine, 1956–1958

From January 1957 to August 1958, US policy in the Middle East was guided by the Eisenhower Doctrine. A key facet of the doctrine was the creation of a coalition of conservative Arab states to oppose the influence of Egyptian president Gamel Abdul Nasser. The region's major conservative states, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, played prominent roles in the implementation of the Eisenhower Doctrine, yet while US policymakers were eager to mold King Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud into a regional leader, they were decidedly ambivalent toward the ambitions of the Hashemite regime in Iraq and skeptical of its long-term viability.

We are the very model of a moderate Muslim state: The Amman Messages and Jordan’s foreign policy

Despite its significance to one of the most problematic discursive binaries of the ‘War on Terror’, moderation has been a largely taken for granted theoretical and empirical category in the discipline of International Relations. To prompt further conversation, this article examines ‘Islamic moderation’ as part of Middle Eastern states’ nation branding in the decade and half since 9/11, using Jordan as a case study. I argue that while Jordan’s official and state-endorsed civil society efforts to promote ‘moderate Islam’ and interfaith dialogue stem in part from authentic interest in promoting dialogue and peace, the Jordanian Hashemite regime has also used the Amman Messages to deepen political trust with the United States, attempting to instrumentalize the moral authority of religion as a form of state productive power. It has done so by playing on a myth of religious moderation which has resonated in both the Middle East and the West since 9/11.

British Military Supplies to Jordan during the 1948 War: How the Anglo-Jordanian Treaty was put to the Test

Despite the strategic relationship between Britain and Jordan, during the 1948 War that followed the establihment of Israel, Britain supplied arms just to protect the Hashemite regime in Jordan and not to be used in the war in Palestine against the Jews. This opposed the position of the commander of the Arab Legion General Glubb Pasha, who demanded weapons for the war in Palestine. Moreover, Britain implemented the Security Council's decision on the Embargo in May 1948, and did not transfer arms supplies to the Arab Legion. The shortage of weapons and ammunition in the Arab Legion as a result of the United Nations embargo forced Jordan to end the war with Israel in July 1948, just two months after it had officially begun.

The Education System in East Jerusalem during the Period of Jordanian Rule, 1948-1967

The article below deals with the Arab educational system in East Jerusalem during the period of Jordanian rule, 1948-1967. Its main aim is to examine the attempts and efforts of the Jordanian government promote a new sense of identity among the Palestinians residing in Jerusalem in order to strengthen their loyalty to the Hashemite regime that had annexed the West Bank and turned it into an inseparable part of the Kingdom of Jordan. The article shows how the educational system was inducted for the purpose of constructing this new identity through a comprehensive change in study programs and textbooks. However, in spite of this, these efforts failed and Palestinian identity was preserved and even strengthened.

Islamic tourism as an ideological construction: A Jordan study case

In early 2001, the Jordanian Ministry of Awqâf1 and Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities endorsed a new branch of tourism: Islamic tourism. This new policy has economic, cultural and religious dimensions, and targets Muslim as well as Westerner tourists. It focuses on promoting visitation of the newly rebuilt mausoleums of the pre-Islamic prophets and the Companions of Prophet Muhammad all over the territory and specifically along the Jordan Valley. This article argues that Islamic tourism is noteworthy for the way it reveals the politics heritage in Jordan. Patrimony, heritage and religious archaeology are being used politically in the context of the development of Islamic tourism. They are used by the Jordanian government and by the Hashemite regime to give a specific representation of the Jordanian Islamic history. In this case, history is being recast to present Jordan and its Monarchy as central actors in Islamic history and as preferential representatives in terms of diplomacy and international relations especially with the Western countries.

The Assassination of King Abdallah: The First Political Assassination in Jordan: Did It Truly Threaten the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan?

King Abdallah was assassinated as a result of his relationship with Arab leaders. The opposition included three leaders: the Mufti Hajj Amin al-Huseini, King Faruq and Ibn Saud. Jordanian intelligence knew about the conspiracy and warned King Abdallah, but he decided to visit Jerusalem as originally planned and there he was assassinated. After the assassination on 20 July 1951, the Jordanian government was faced with two dangers that threatened the Hashemite regime in Jordan. The first, a Palestinian rebellion the purpose of which was the replacement of the Hashemite regime with a Palestinian one; the second an invasion of Jordan by either Syria or Saudi Arabia or both countries together, and their possible control of it. However, the dangers turned out to be neither tangible nor serious and the Hashemite regime remained in power.