Jordan and the Arab Uprisings: Regime Survival and Politics Beyond the State

Carved by imperial powers, Jordan is a small state surrounded by a large but unstable neighbourhood. Among all the chaos, Jordan offers a semblance of stability sans durability owing to a strained economy, war across borders and the pressure of rehabilitating refugees. In a quest to have robust stability, Jordan has been constantly making efforts to embrace frequent rounds of reforms, active diplomacy and a flexible foreign policy. Stability was Jordan’s major concern, when the Arab Spring reached its doorstep and it believed in ‘soft security’ or minimal coercion as a thumb rule as reflected by Marwan Muasher (2014), The former Foreign Minister of Jordan who referred to the Arab uprising as ‘Second Arab Awakening.’ Apt in handling chaos, Jordan sailed through the Arab uprising unlike other countries and is a case study for scholars engaged in the study of Middle East politics. Curtis R. Ryan’s book Jordan and the Arab Uprisings: Regime Survival and Politics Beyond the State is a timely and comprehensive study on the subject and is valuable for those interested in Jordanian politics.