Jordan Politics of the Middle East

People Population, 7,930,491 Arab 98%, Circassian 1%, Armenian 1% Muslim 97.2% (predominantly Sunni), Christian 2.2% Literacy rate: 95.9%

Economy DDP $40.02 billion per capita $6,100 Unemployment: 14% official rate, unofficial 30% Services 77.4%, industry 20%, agriculture 2.7% Exports: $7.914 billion

History Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Trans-Jordan, Emerit of Jordan Occupied Independence 1948 – 1967 Gained control of the West Bank 1951 Abdullah I killed 50s – 60s The Experiment with Liberalism 1957 End of security pact with UK 1958 Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan 1965 Land exchange with SA

1967 Six day War, loss of West Bank 1970 Black September 1973 War, 1 Brigade to Syria, 1980s Protests resulting in expanded freedoms Did not participate in Gulf War 1, Iraq Israel Jordan Peace Pact October 26, 1994, ending 46- year state of war Food riots, IMF ends subsidies, 25% unemployment, 50% public sector employees, 1999 Death of King Hussein King Abdullah II, political reforms economic cooperation with Egypt, Syria, Israel Arab Spring protests quelled by some reforms, extended subsidies, reappointment of ministers and early parliamentary elections.

Government Parliamentary Multi Party Monarchy King Abdullah II King is the executive, signs and vetos laws, may suspend or dissolve parliament. A veto by the king may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of both houses of parliament at his discretion appoints and dismisses judges, approves constitutional amendments, declares war, head of the military

Bicameral assembly Chamber of Deputies 150 members, elected to 4 year terms by the electorate 15 seats reserved for women, 9 seats for Christians, 3 for Chechens/ Circassians. approves, rejects legislation with little power to initiate laws. Assembly of Senators 60 members appointed by the King, 4 year terms Can be removed by Chamber of Deputies 2013 Talal al-Sharif tried to shoot a colleague with an assault rifle.

Palestinian Question At Present, 1,951,603 Palestine refugees in Jordan 338,000 are still living in refugee camps 1946 Jordan had two towns with more than 10,000 people: Amman (65,754) and Salt (14,479) After refugee crisis, Amman 108,412 Irbid and Zarqa more than doubled their population from less than 10,000 each to respectively, 23,000 and 28, King Abdullah I assassinated at the al-Aqsa Mosque by a Palestinian ,000 refugees 1967 Six Day War, an additional 300,000

Black September Fedayeen: defeat Zionism, liberate Palestine establish a secular, democratic, nonsectarian state United under the PLO actions in Jordan including the destruction of three hijacked international airliners prompted military response Jordanian victory in July 1971, Fedayeen expelled

Foreign Relations Pro-Western, close ties US, UK Neutrality Gulf War I European Neighbour Policy, Non-NATO member ally Iraq, received significant oil subsidies until 2003, now hosts large ex-pat community