Jordan: Living in the Crossfire

Front Cover
Zed Books, Oct 4, 2005 - Political Science - 266 pages
Jordan has played a bigger role in Middle Eastern affairs than its size and economy might warrant, due to its huge Palestinian population, its strategic location between Israel, the West Bank, Syria and Iraq, and its uniquely close relationship with successive British and US administrations. Drawing on numerous visits to the country and interviews with a diversity of people from King Abdullah down, Alan George describes how its reasonably stable monarchical system, unlike that in most Arab countries, has allowed the halting development of civil society and maintained control through the skilful co-option of opponents rather than heavy-handed reliance on its secret police. What is daily life like? How do its parliamentary system and political parties work? How free are the media? What are the future prospects of this buffer 'state without a nation'?
 

Contents

3
18
Jordan under King Abdullah II
47
4
83
5
92
6
103
Abd alFatah alBustani Dentist
113
Abu Muhammad Taxi Driver
123
Awad ashShubaiki Farmer
133
The Royal Family and the Royal Court
155
Parliament and Parties
173
The Legal System
190
The Media
206
Higher Education
223
The Future
240
Select Bibliography
252
Copyright

Anisa Salim Refugee
143

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About the author (2005)

Alan George gained his PhD, on Syria, at Durham in 1978. Since 1984 he has worked as a freelance journalist and researcher, contributing to a wide range of UK and international publications including the Observer, the Independent and the Guardian, and commentating on Middle Eastern affairs for radio and television. He is a former Assistant Director of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), of whose Executive Committee he has been a member for many years. He has visited Syria repeatedly since 1967. He is the author of 'Syria: Neither Bread nor Freedom' (Zed books, 2003)

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