Jordan Watch: Political Reform

The Principles of Arab Reform: Political Reform

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:41:07 GMT

No word has ever been more "exploited" in Jordan and the Arab World more than "reform" in the last few years. As if it has been magistically discovered in a deep cave in the Arabian political desert, reform has been the most welcomed guest in all political projects developed by the USA and EU for the Arab World after September 11th and has been the silver bullet for the political and socio-economic... [read more]

Marwan Mouasher writing about the National Agenda

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:14:00 GMT

I am enjoying reading the fascinating book written by Jordan's former Minister of Foreign Affairs and deputy Prime Minister for reform Dr Marwan Mouasher entitled "The Arab Center: the Promise of Moderation". Although the main theme of this book is a sound description of the justification and potential of Arab moderation with a documented history of the betrayal of the Arab moderation vision by various... [read more]

A word of admiration for Ahmad Obeidat

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:45:00 GMT

I was disappointed to learn that Mr Ahmad Obeidat has resigned from his position as head of the National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) in Jordan, most probably due to "requests" delivered to him by the Government after his participation in signing a public petition with other 149 Jordanian figures critcising the official liberal economic policies and privatization options. Ahmad Obeidat is one... [read more]

A Jordan without the Hashemites

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:54:00 GMT

Jordan was taken by surprise with the candid interview given by HM King Abdullah II to the official Jordanian news agency Petra. The complete text of the interview can be read in Black Iris Blog. The interview answered a lot of the hot questions and worries that were vibrating through the minds of Jordanians in the past two months. I am not gonna comment on the answers here, but to reflect again... [read more]

My Selection for Jordan's 30 influential people 2008

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:37:00 GMT

Jordan Business Magazine is yet aiming to identify the 30 most influential people in Jordan (apart from the Royal Family) and for this purpose have designed a good voting system. The results should apear in the July edition. Here is my own list of the most influential 30 persons. The list should be divided by three categories, with 10 names in each. In my humble opinion, the second category of... [read more]

Jordan as a testing ground for Globalization

Wed, 21 May 2008 12:46:00 GMT

Bloggers are becoming a source of information for international reporters, journalists and even academic researchers on the issues of the Middle East. This blog has attracted some journalists to send me e-mails, talk over the phone and in person about contemporary issues in Jordan. I became very disappointed to realize that the two major issues about Jordan in which foreign reporters are obsessed... [read more]

Jordanian Blogs and Lack of Debate on Critical Issues

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:38:00 GMT

The following post should be read with this post from Naseem Tarawneh I was just strating to energize my brain cells to write about a phenomenon I have long observed in the Jordanian blogs, when I read Nassems' fantastic post about the same issue entitled "Jordanian bloggers and blogging about the issues that really matter". The brilliant post and the lively debates in Naseem's blog form... [read more]

Khaled Hroub: Jordan's Transition to Constitutional Democratic Monarchy

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:01:00 GMT

A couple of days ago I received a nice message from Dr Khaled Hroub, the Director of the Cambridge Arab Media Project and one of the most enlightened and honest Arab political writers. He informed me of his new article that was published on the Arab Reform Initiative website after the latest Parliamentarian elections in Jordan. The writer provides a fascinating description of the political, legal... [read more]

Ten required conditions for electoral reform in Jordan

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:32:00 GMT

Jordan certainly deserves better than the Parliament that was elected yesterday. Jordan's rate of human resource development, education, scientific competencies and economic openness needs develop better electoral conditions. Many people have claimed that it was better to boycott the elections than participating. For me I think negativity can never be an option for reform. Participation is essential... [read more]

Foreign Policy Watch Blog on Jordan's Municipal Elections

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:25:00 GMT

Amongst the many blogs and online networks that claim expertise and understanding of Jordan and Middle East political and socio-economic complexities, I was thrilled to see a genuine source of deep and well articulated analysis. Jeb Koogler from Seattle maintains a very interesting blog entitled "Foreign Policy Watch". He is a student of international relations and Middle Eastern studies at Brown... [read more]

Race to the bottom between the Government and Islamists

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:40:00 GMT

I was astonished to read the summary of statements from the Government's Spoksman Nasser Joudeh in his weekly press conference where he stated that there is "no crises between the government and islamists in the light of the municiplaities elections". If withdrawal from the elections, provocating the military and general intelligence and intimidating the state was not a sign of a crises from Islamists... [read more]

Ministers' phones bugged?

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 19:51:00 GMT

According to a report by Al Arab Al Yawm newspaper, Jordanian Prime Minister Ma'rouf Bakhit had a stunning revelation in last evening's Cabinet meeting. The outraged PM accused some ministers of "providing journalists with information about the activities of the government and its other ministers through the political salons in which ministers and journalists interact. He added that he has "recordings"... [read more]

Jordan Power 30: The Irrationality of Voting

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 23:32:00 GMT

Jordan Business magazine has published its list of the most influential 30 Jordanians for the second year running. Last year the selection was based on the magazine's informed judgemens and it was convincing. This year however, the magazine opted to give the choice to its readers through an online vote. The results provides another evidence how voting can sometimes be irrational. The magazine received... [read more]

Foreign Policy: Jordan is NOT a failed state!

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 18:15:00 GMT

To the dismay of some readers of this blog Jordan is not a failed state. According to the Foreign Policy Index of failed States, published for the third year in the well respected American magazine "Foreign Policy" Jordan does not rank among the 60 failed states of the world which includes seven Arab countries, topped by Sudan. The Index was developed by the Fund for Peace an independent research... [read more]

Nominations for 2007 Jordan Power 30 are about to be closed

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 01:03:00 GMT

Jordan Business magazine has asked its readers to nominate their candidates for the Jordan power 30 issue to be published in July 2007. Maybe it is only few days but it is worth nominating now. Last year the magazine made its own intelligent judgement nomination which was met with some critical feedback. You can nominate here http://www.jordan-business.net/power30/ [read more]

Me, Social Democracy and Monarchy in Jordan

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 01:04:00 GMT

This blog has received a plethora of negative comments from readers who disagree with my political opinions. Naturally any diversity in opinions is an enriching factor since it provides several perspectives on a certain issue. Some comments however, especially from anonymous readers have always shifted towards personal accusations and attacks. One of the most intriguing attacks are linked to the... [read more]

Jordan in Middle Ranking in the Global Peace Index

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 18:29:00 GMT

It has been like a magnetic attraction between Jordan and the middle ranking of most global surveys and indices. The latest of which is the Global Peace Index developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit in which the indicators of peacefullness were analysed for 121 countries. With no surprise Jordan came at no 63 making it the 9th Arab state after Oman, Qatar, UAE, Tunisia, Kuwait, Morocco, Libya... [read more]

A Primer on Arab Reform Initiatives

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 16:48:00 GMT

Plenty of reform initiatives are spreading all over the Arab world and they will be highlighted in this blog in the next few weeks, with special focus on the resources they provide online. The following three initiatives provide very good general understanding and evaluation of the reform efforts in the Arab World. Other initiatives will be discussed and presented later. I have a feeling,... [read more]

Kareem Amer Sentence: A fate for all reformist bloggers?

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 14:55:00 GMT

I always thought it was a matter of time before the Egyptiam security and religious apparatus crack down on a blogger so harsh to send a message of intimidation to all other courageous bloggers out there in Egypt. The massive movement and impact of the Egyptian bloggers has worried the traditional repressive minds, whether they are in the regime or in the religious oppression institutions. Kareem... [read more]

Survey: Corruption on the rise in Jordan

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:44:25 GMT

This is an excellent review of the latest public opinion poll on Corruption in Jordan published by the Center for Strategic Studies in the University of Jordan. The review was published in the Jordan Times. If anyone is interested in having the full electronic version of the survey in Arabic please drop me an e-mail By Alia Shukri Hamzeh AMMAN — A new opinion poll released Wednesday reveals... [read more]