ABSTRACT
Jordan had emerged as the most democratically open country in the Arab world. The level of genuine political participation available to average Jordanians is greater than that available to most other Arab peoples. The affair of the electoral law alterations demonstrates the limits of Jordan's democratic experiment. The history of Jordan since has occurred under the tenure of Hussein, the longest reigning head-of-state in the region. The major political development in the state of Jordan was the adoption of a new constitution in 1952, a few months before Hussein's inauguration, Jordan was proclaimed a constitutional monarchy, with authority jointly exercised by the king and a National Assembly. The parliamentary election of November 1989 marked the beginning of new Jordanian democratization. Islamists have co-existed peacefully with the Jordanian regime and have proven to be a stabilizing factor in the country's political life.
