ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to narrate a detailed story of the Campaign to Eliminate Crimes of Honor, its experience as a civil society association and how it was ultimately co-opted by the Jordanian regime. The nature of state-civil society interaction in Jordan shows the need for civil society to be autonomous for it to play a role in democratization, a role it is still struggling to play in Jordan. The purpose of the Campaign to Eliminate So-called Crimes of Honor was, eliminating the laws that grant lenient sentences to men who murder female relatives 'in defense of their honor'. Typically, an honor crime is defined as the killing of a woman by one of her male relatives, usually her father or brother, for committing or being suspected of committing illicit sexual acts. The Campaign initiated a wider societal debate about honor crimes that turned into a discussion of women's rights and foreign influence on Jordan.
