I've posted my own piece on Jordan over at Qahwa Sada. While I won't be doing this routinely, since that is more about other scholars than about me, I wanted to lead by example by contributing something substantial. And to fill in for two promised pieces which failed to materialize on time. Here's the opening paragraphs:
Postponing Jordan's elections?
Marc Lynch
At a roundtable with Arab journalists last Wednesday, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch was asked about reports that Jordan
would postpone next year's scheduled Parliamentary elections out of
concern for an Islamist victory. Welch ducked the question in favor
of generalities about democracy. Both the question and Welch's
non-answer were telling. Over the last two weeks, a controversy has
indeed erupted in Jordan over the question of whether next year's
scheduled Parliamentary elections will be held.
The controversy began when a highly respected independent columnist, Samih al-Mayateh, penned a short piece arguing against a postponement.
This relatively innocuous intervention might have been passed over had
not speculation in fact been raging in private political salons. A series of columns followed, and then a taciturn semi-denial from a government spokesman. Some observers have dismissed this as a non-issue,
a straw man cooked up by Parliamentarians who enjoy their cushy jobs or
by bored columnists looking to stir up trouble. While anything is
possible in King Abdullah's Jordan, I would agree that such a
postponement is actually quite unlikely. But the controversy is
fascinating for what it reveals about the current state of affairs in
the Hashemite Kingdom.
Comments