ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the evolution of the political system and characterises its development. Its evolution can best be observed in three distinct phases of the country's political history, namely the period of the British mandate 1923-1946, the period of independence during which Central Palestine was annexed and King Abdullah was assassinated, and the period of its rapid expansion after the Palestine war until 1956. The first seven years of the mandate period were taken up by the consolidation of the Principality, founded 1921 to 1923, and with the attainment of autonomy. Political developments in independent kingdom period were dominated by two epochal events: the Arab-Israeli War in Palestine, and the annexation of Central Arab Palestine by Jordan. In July-December 1941 an agreement was concluded between Britain and Transjordan to amend certain clauses of the 1928 Agreement. In response to a Transjordanian memorandum in June 1945, requesting new talks, the British Government invited Abdullah to London.
