A History of Jordan

An accessible introduction to the political history of Jordan, including new material on the major events of the last decade.

Philip Robins (Author)

9781108448383, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 September 2019

330 pages, 24 b/w illus. 3 maps 5 tables
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.7 cm, 0.56 kg

'Robins … arguably knows more about Jordan than anyone in the West, and this second edition of his history of the kingdom is as authoritative and informative as the first. No other volume begins to capture the country as well as this one … Essential.' P. Clawson, Choice

Since the publication of the first edition, substantial changes have occurred in the political landscape of Jordan and the Middle East. King Abdullah II has cemented his rule amidst an onslaught of threats which have faced his kingdom since he succeeded his father in 1999. The Syrian civil war has fundamentally shifted the political context of its neighbouring countries, with Jordan experiencing a huge population explosion as people moved across the border from Syria. This second edition of Robins' accessible and succinct survey of Jordanian political history is an account of a century of events within a country whose fortunes are closely identified with its heads of state. Beginning in the early 1920s in the Mandate years, and now benefiting from new material on the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, attempts at democratisation, the collapse of the economy, the Jordan Spring and refugee crisis, this new edition featuring original research brings Jordan's political history into the twenty-first century.

Introduction
1. On the edge of empire
2. Founding state and regime
3. The long road to independence
4. Loss of innocence
5. The roaring fifties
6. The road to disaster
7. Illusions of progress
8. Hussein's choices
9. Abdullah's governance debate at home
10. International relations under Abdullah
Conclusion: Jordan: still a politely run authoritarian state.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]