ABSTRACT

This chapter describes Jordan's remarkable success in transforming the weakest Arab state into a nation. A strong sense of Jordanian nationalism has developed despite the competing claims of Arab and Palestinian nationalism. During the colonial period, Britain subsidized state building in what became Jordan, put the Hashemites on the throne, and helped form an effective police force that remained loyal to the post independence government. The Hashemites provide a lesson on what astute leadership can achieve in a very unpromising national security and economic environment. The Hashemites survives despite being surrounded by unstable, interventionist, and more powerful neighbors. They have done so through astute leadership, the cultivation of a Jordanian national identity, and the reliance on one powerful ally. The ally is used to counterbalance their neighbors and to provide infusions of economic aid to help compensate for a very poor resource endowment. Thus, it survives by transforming Jordan into a rentier state dependent on strategic rents from the outside.