FES-Analyse Jordan Amy Henderson& Dr. Paul Pasch January 2001 n Two years after his succession to the throne, King Abdullah’s reign has secured a national sense of continuity. Though the young king has adopted a style of rule very different from his father’s, his em­phasis focuses clearly on domestic concerns. n With the dismissal of Samih Battikhi as chief of the General Intelligence Department last November, the period of transition seems to have come to an end. For the time being the battle between the tradi­tional old guard and an emerging generation of reformists seems to be won by the forces that strive for modernization, as already indicated in the change of government in June 2000 from that of Abdour Ra’uf Rawabdeh, a traditional and tribal figure, to that of Ali Abul Ragheb, a liberal business man. n The monarch’s domestic and economic challenges are many: One in three Jordanians live in poverty, around 20 per cent of the work force is jobless, the massive external debt equals 90 per cent of GDP and requires an annual debt servicing of 8.6 per cent of GDP, GDP per capita is at$ 1,645, economic growth has stagnated and is with 1.3 per cent much too low to cope with a population growth of 3.0 per cent. n To tackle Jordan’s economic problems and create growth in a poor country with few resources, the king has set up the Economic Consultancy Council with the aim to promote such sectors as IT, tour­ism, fertilisers, pharmaceuticals, service industries, privatisation of telecommunications and state companies, improvement of the educational system, boosting foreign direct investment and thus fo­cusing on export-oriented growth. n The creation of the Economic Consultancy Council has galvanised unprecedented activism in the younger rank and file of the private sector, who were frustrated by outdated governmental policies that had seemed cemented in place, and unwilling or unable to accommodate the requirements of globalisation. n The energies that King Abdullah reserves for the diplomatic front have mainly been channelled to­wards redefining Jordan’s Palestinean legacy, restoring ties with neighbouring Arab countries, with which he is urging regional economic cooperation, and towards lobbying Western countries for eco­nomic support through vehicles such as Jordan’s membership in the World Trade Organisation, the free trade agreement with the United States and the continued support of the Bretton Woods institu­tions. n Within two years King Abdullah has managed to both provoke and placate Iraq; by restoring Jor­dan’s ties with Gulf Arab states and by advocating the lifting of UN sanctions on Iraq in international and regional fora. Jordan became the first Arab country to dispatch a prime minister to Iraq since crippling sanctions were imposed one decade ago. Furthermore, the young monarch has tried to de­velop a policy of rapprochement towards the Syria of the late President Hafez Al Assad and in the meantime has established a functioning collegial working relation with Bashar Al Assad. At the same time the king doesn’t preach normalization with Israel, but nevertheless, even despite the Al Aqsa Intifada, he maintains strong links with both his immediate neighbours to the west – Israel and the Palestinean Authority. Herausgeber und Redaktion: Albrecht Koschützke, Stabsabteilung der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung 53170 Bonn, Tel.: 0228-883376, Fax: 883432, eMail: Albrecht.Koschuetzke@fes.de