News Release

Democracy: “Why Not Jordan?”

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AP reports that President Obama today will be “hosting King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House.”

PETE MOORE,  pwm10 at case.edu,
Professor of political science at Case Western Reserve University, Moore is author of Doing Business in the Middle East: Politics and Economic Crisis in Jordan and Kuwait. He said today: “An obvious question given what has happened in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria is: Why not Jordan? The socioeconomic grievances in the other countries are there in spades. We’ve certainly seen some protests in 2011 — and some that go back further — but why haven’t we seen that level of protests?

“Part of the reason is that the Saudis and Gulf Emirates — as well as the Israelis, U.S. and Europeans — have supported the Hashemite throne and are keenly interested in making sure that domino doesn’t fall. Jordan is a small country and the organized opposition is small, so money and cooptation can go a long way.”

Note: At a news conference today at the National Press Club, various Jordanian groups criticized the regime.