ABSTRACT
The chapter presents a reflexive study of power through deconstructing the evolution of knowledge associated with the narrative and political application of tribalism. It traces the historical rise, persistence, and effects of tribalism, presenting it simultaneously as a political and social discourse that exerts influence on political participation shaping people’s opinions about what is deemed ‘political’, expectations placed on political authorities, and privileges certain mechanisms for deliberation and engagement in the public sphere. Values and conduct associated with tribalism have been continuously reproduced by the political elites as they accommodate societal knowledge conductive to the Hashemite rule. Yet tribalism is not merely a governance discourse imposed from above, nor an independently occurring ‘cultural’ characteristic of the society. It is better understood as a continuously contested discourse for distributing power that limits people’s behaviour in the public sphere but also guides their perceptions of the society, polity, political agency, and views towards democratic capability. Consequently, ways in which people’s engagement in the public sphere transforms the power discourse may conceal political agency within supposedly apolitical avenues and provide insights about socially favoured epitome of democratic capability.
