ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to describe and analyze the relationship between state and society in Jordan. Here we look primarily at the ways in which the discourses and policies of the Jordanian state toward society have shaped this relationship. The chapter starts by describing the consequences of the formation of Jordan for the tribal population of the territory in question (the Transjordanian Emirate in the early 1920s) – at the time headed by the Hashemite prince Abdullah. Thereafter, the implications of the incorporation of so many Palestinians into the Jordanian state are dealt with. In the subsequent two sections, state practices of patronage towards the various segments of Jordanian society are depicted: first in terms of state discourse and then in terms of institutional practices of cooptation. The fifth section deals with the limits to democracy and pluralism in the kingdom. The sixth section analyzes this relationship between Jordanian state and society from a historical perspective. The seventh and final section deals more specifically with state hegemony over formal civil society institutions, as well as over public opinion in Jordan.
