ABSTRACT
The Jordanian armed forces were made up of the Arab Legion and the National Guard (NG). The latter was a part-time militia based on the 1950 National Guard Act conscripting every able-bodied Jordanian between the age of 18 and 40 years to a one-month annual training and service period. In this instance the Government's policy was not geared to the process of integration itself, but was rather intended to forge the armed forces into an instrument for the implementation of the overall policy of Jordanization. The Jordanian Government announced its continued financial responsibility for the NG hoping thereby to gain politically from the Arab League's refusal. It further promised to unify the budget of the army and the NG, indicating the lines of its supposedly future policy in the face of this internal pressure. Political life in Jordan was carried on at two levels: the open, Government-sanctioned "democratic" processes, and the underground political activity. These were in reality inextricably linked.
