Creating Consent in an Illiberal Order
Policing Disputes in Jordan

Explores 'low policing' of interpersonal disputes in Jordan to show the inconspicuous methods the state uses to maintain social order.

Jessica Watkins (Author)

9781009098618, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 June 2022

288 pages
23.5 x 15.6 x 2 cm, 0.51 kg

'In authoritarian states, the practices of everyday policing are too often ignored in favor of elite politics. No more: Watkins' brilliant study of Jordan shows how law, order, and consent come together to shape the rhythms of ordinary social life. This is an impressive feat.' Sean Yom, Temple University

Middle Eastern police forces have a reputation for carrying out repression and surveillance on behalf of authoritarian regimes, despite frequently under enforcing the law. But what is their role in co-creating and sustaining social order? In this book, Jessica Watkins focuses on the development of the Jordanian police institution to demonstrate that rather than being primarily concerned with law enforcement, the police are first and foremost concerned with order. In Jordan, social order combines the influence of longstanding tribal practices with regime efforts to promote neoliberal economic policies alongside a sense of civic duty amongst citizens. Rather than focusing on the 'high policing' of offences deemed to threaten state security, Watkins explores the 'low policing' of interpersonal disputes including assault, theft, murder, traffic accidents, and domestic abuse to shed light on the varied strategies of power deployed by the police alongside other societal actors to procure hegemonic 'consent'.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Strategic alliances and amalgamated social orders: the basis of authoritarian survival
3. State policing from the Ottoman gendarmerie to the public security directorate
4. Criminalising disputes, disputing criminality: police and legal pluralism
5. Policing blood crimes in the (neo)tribal tradition
6. Policing domestic abuse: police and women's rights groups
7. Community policing after the uprisings: refugees and representatives
8. From neoliberal securitised policing back to the disputing process.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC]