268 Baylouny Militarizing Welfare Neoliberalism

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MIDDLE EAST JOURNALMVOLUME 62 NO 2 SpRINg 2008

Militarizin Welare: Neo-liberalism and

Jordanian policy

Anne Marie Baylouny

Jordans seemingly sccessl economic and political reorms have been sedto advertise the American vision o societal transormation in the Middle East.The imposition o neo-liberal economic policies removed a key sorce o welareor the poplace, leaving the regime withot a secre base o spport. Economicliberalization led to a radical change in the regimes base o spport, marginal-izing the previos regime backers the East Bank poplation and replacingthem with a strengthened military, ormerly only part o the regimes spport.Initial economic liberalization was a critical jnctre when diering otcomes

were possible. The 1990s set the instittions and state policies that persisted aterthese extreme hard times passed. An analytical ocs on state social provisioningdemonstrates the changed social base o the Jordanian regime and the gropseectively disenranchised by the new arrangements. The military and secrityservices are the only sector growing in strctral adjstment. Alongside decreas-ing social welare allocations in general, the militarys bdgets are increasingand the military diversiying into sb-contracting and new economic enterprises.Militarized liberalization serves as an alternative model or Middle East regimes,one that can rnish the ondation or semi-athoritarianism into the near -tre. This changing social base o the regime, illminated throgh an examination

o social welare, mst be recognized when tackling the perennial qestion o ademocratic defcit in the Middle East.

Jordans seeminly successul economic and olitical reorms have been used to ad-vertise the American vision o societal transormation in the Middle East.1 However,the imosition o neo-liberal economic olicies removed a key source o welare or

the oulace, leavin the reime without a secure base o suort. Structural adjust-

ment and the imosition o neo-liberal economic reorms were set to dismantle thesocial rovisionin2 uon which the state o Jordan had been built, without establishin

Anne Marie Baylouny is Assistant proessor o National Security Aairs at the Naval postraduate School.Baylouny has ublished on Islamism and social oranizin, and recently comleted a book manuscrit on the

olitical eects o economic chanes and welare. She is currently analyzin Islamist television rorams.

Field research or this article was comleted 1999-2000, alon with brie tris in 2004 and 2005. Fundin was

rovided by the Fulbriht Institute or International Education ellowshi and the Simson Memorial Dis-

sertation Research Fellowshi, the Institute or International Studies, Berkeley. The Social Science Research

Council and the Mellon Foundation rovided re-dissertation and travel rants. The views are the authors

alone and not those o the Naval postraduate School or any other institutional aliation or suort.

1. pete W. Moore, QIZs, FTAs, USAID and the MEFTA: A political Economy o Acronyms,

Middle East Report, No. 234 (2005).2. I dene the welare system as the institutions and olicies that rovide rotection or the lower

classes aainst the all into overty, and insurance, social security, and ensions mainly or the middle

classes. These institutions can extend into ublic services such as health care, worker rotection, andwae determinations.


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278MMIDDLE EAST JOURNAL

substantive articiation as an alternative oundation or the reime.3 The removal osocial olicies was not merely a matter o unemloyment and decreased buyin ower,

but threatened the very nature o Jordans reime itsel. prior to its economic reorms

in 1989, a social contract in Jordan, similar to most in the Middle East, rovided eco-

nomic oods in return or olitical quiescence. The states abroation in economicreorm would loically enerate increased olitical voice, as the oulace would no

loner suort the reime due to economic benets received. Instead, economic liber-alization in Jordan led not to increased olitical sace but to the radical chane in the

reimes base o suort, marinalizin the revious reime backers the East Bank4

oulation and relacin them with a strenthened military. The ro-American re-ime has remained a mystery made more uzzlin iven the reality o oor economic

erormance and a lack o democracy. The reimes reliance uon military welare,

strenthenin the numbers and economic ower o the military, aids in exlainin theersistence o this semi-authoritarian reime.

Hard times can solidiy new institutional atterns that either reverse or reinorce

old arranements.5 When resources or livin decline, critical realinments amon do-mestic actors can institutionalize a new coalition or overnin which remains in lace

lon ater the crisis is over. The harsh economic conditions o the 1990s, deicted here,

eectively raised the role o the military by servin as emloyment and welare. Thenarrow rou o the military substituted or revious welare rovided to a broad se-

ment o the oulation. In the atmoshere o eneral economic crisis, welare to one

section o the oulation was welcomed. While new economic olicies themselves

enerated substantial rotest, the increasin numbers and economic benets o themilitary roceeded without objection. The result contributed to the demise o olitical

liberalization. A larer and stroner security aaratus, now rovidin imortant wel-

are benets not available elsewhere, comromised the ability o the oulace to ora-nize aainst the overnment.6 The 1990s bean with economic reorm accomanied by

3. On Jordans lack o democracy, see or examle Jillian Schwedler, Dont Blink: Jordans

Democratic Oenin and Closin,Middle East Report Online, www.meri.or/mero/mero070302.html.

4. The distinction is one o national oriin or lineae, not current citizenshi. Jordanian, East

Banker, and Transjordanian are all terms or a erson who traces his/her oriin to the area now known

as Jordan. palestinians trace their ancestry to the West Bank, the gaza Stri, or what is now inside the

boundaries o Israel. precise demorahics o East Bankers versus palestinians are unavailable; the

overnment reards all oulation counts by national oriin as national security issues. As such, itwill not release any inormation it may have on these demorahics. As anthrooloical studies have

shown, distinctions between Jordanian and palestinian are not hard and ast, and senses o identity

have roven to be fexible. palestinians allied to the monarchy, havin arrived rior to 1948 (some

ater), are oten seen as Jordanian. The Majali amily, althouh oriinally rom Hebron in the West

Bank, is considered Jordanian, viewin its interests in line with those rom its home in Karak (south-

ern Jordan). Layne calls these ractical uroses Jordanians; they are Jordanian in all the ways that

count. Others continue to be viewed as palestinian. Linda Layne,Home and Homeland: The Dialog-ics o Tribal and National Identities in Jordan (princeton: princeton University press, 1994), . 18.Intermarriae comlicates the situation, as does the current reoranization o kinshi that can cross

national oriin lines.

5. peter gourevitch, Politics in Hard Times: Comparative Responses to International Economic

Crises (Ithaca: Cornell University press, 1986).6. For the eect o the coercive aaratus on olitical liberalization in the Middle East, see Eva

[Contined on next page]


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MILITARIzINg wELfAREM 279

sinicant olitical reorm the return o parliament and the lealization o oliticalarties. By the beinnin o 2000, economic liberalization had sed u while olitical

reorm had reversed, resultin in what some have called deliberalization.7

The economic distress o the 1990s was somewhat alleviated by the Iraq War in

2003, which cataulted US aid to Jordan to new heihts and revived the transort andtourism sectors. Jordan served as a key sto or contact with Iraq. Other economic sec-

tors suered as the domestic cometition or oods and jobs increased with the arrivalo, by some estimates, some 700,000 Iraqi reuees. The Iraqi reuees inused money

into Jordanian banks but increased rices throuh eneral infation. While the eco-

nomic situation somewhat shited, the basic role o the domestic economy remained.Even more imortant, the militarys central role suortin oular welare and the

reime continued to develo alon the institutional lines set in the 1990s.

In this article I delineate the Jordanian reimes chanin social base throuh aocus on the olitical economy o state rovisionin and the eects o economic lib-

eralization. I bein by settin the social scene, lacin the Jordanians and palestinians

in their reional location and labor market concentration. I then resent the countrysroduction role rior to structural adjustment and its attendin labor market charac-

teristics. Next, I ocus on the welare olicies enacted by the state, tihtly linked to the

economic reime. Secic elements o state social rovisionin created incentives orkinshi oranizin with welares decline. I then discuss structural adjustment, which

marks the shit in the countrys welare reime. I examine the altered labor market and

new welare rovisions under economic liberalization, and demonstrate the rowin

rivilees and institutional economic ower o the military in economic liberalization.An analytical ocus on state social rovisionin demonstrates the chanin so-

cial base o the Jordanian reime and the rous eectively disenranchised by the

new arranements. Examinin welare olicies concentrates analysis on the causes andconsequences o the quintessential olitical question: who ets what. Welare is both a

deendent and indeendent variable. It is intimately related to the countrys economic

develoment trajectory and the olitical battles over redistribution.8 Social rovision-in in turn infuences the roduction role, articularly by sendin sinals to the labor

market.9 Thus, delineatin the rior welare reime is central to orecastin economic

[Contined rom previos page]Bellin, The Robustness o Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Excetionalism in Comarative

persective, Comparative Politics, Vol. 36, No. 2 (2004), . 139-57.7. Russell E. Lucas, Deliberalization in Jordan, in Larry Diamond, Marc F. plattner, and DanielBrumber, eds., Islam and Democracy in the Middle East(Baltimore: Johns Hokins Universitypress, 2003); Schwedler, Dont Blink: Jordans Democratic Oenin and Closin.

8. Evelyne Huber and John D. Stehens,Development and Crisis o the Welare State: Parties andPolicies in Global Markets (Chicao: University o Chicao press, 2001). The roduction reime in-cludes the countrys connection to the international economy, relationshis amon rms, emloyers,

and nancial institutions, labor market institutions, and the overnments relationshi to and involve-

ment in the economy. David Soskice, Diverent production Reimes: Coordinated and Uncoordi-

nated Market Economies in the 1980s and 1990s, in Herbert Kitschelt, et al., eds., Continity andChange in Contemporary Capitalism (New York: Cambride University press, 1999); J. Roers Hol-linsworth, philie Schmitter, and Wolan Streeck, eds., Governing Capitalist Economies (New

York: Oxord University press, 1994).9. Social insurance aects individual decisions on investment in secialized skills. Torben Ivers-



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outcomes and collective oranizin otential once social rovisionin is withdrawn.Social rovisionin mechanisms in the develoin world dier sharly rom

those o the develoed countries, with the result that they are oten not identied as

orms o welare. But the existence o a social contract tradin olitical rihts or eco-

nomic security is well acknowleded.10

Comarison with social welare in southernEuroe and Latin America identies the nature o diverse Middle Eastern olicies as

buerin the direct exerience o the market or the middle and lower classes androvidin a measure o social insurance. Welare in all these reions is artial and

eared toward those in ormal emloyment and crucial social rous in state ormation.

In the northern Mediterranean, social security and ensions orm the bulk o welareexenditures, on to o salaries to state emloyees.11 In Latin America, ublic emloy-

ment and ensions are sulemented by health care and rice controls, measures more

amiliar in the Middle East.12 The revalence o clientelism does not void the existenceo a welare reime, but is a method o accessin state insurance. In all these reions

votes are exchaned or welare services, and ersonal connections used to neotiate

the bureaucracy or the same. Within the national systems, lare territorial dierencesare resent, creatin what has been called a dual system o welare rovision: A minor-

ity o workers benets well rom social olicies, while the majority has minimal or no

coverae.13 Further, the rivate realm is ket distinct rom the ormal labor market, butrelied uon or social services. Womens social rihts are derived relationally, rom

their connection to a male relative, and no ublic services aid in the entrance o women

to work outside the home. private reliious and local charities are exlicitly called uon

to ll in or the state.14

Jordans welare reime was slit between those covered and those let out o the

system entirely. For the East Bank oulation, welare meant ublic sector emloy-

ment with attendant benets or the entire amily. Alon with a steady income, thesejobs rovided access to health care and chea consumer oods. Benets last into retire-

ment or these emloyees. In the 1970s, with increasin infation and risin incomes

amon palestinians workin in the gul, the state took several additional measures toaid the oor and the state-emloyed Jordanian oulation. Blanket subsidies on basic

[Contined rom previos page]en, Capitalism, Democracy, and Welare (New York: Cambride University press, 2005).

10. For examle John Waterbury, From Social Contracts to Extraction Contracts: The political

Economy o Authoritarianism and Democracy, in John p. Entelis, ed., Islam, Democracy, and theState in North Arica (Bloominton: Indiana University press, 1997). Ayubi terms these social wel-are, but does not isolate the welare reime as a variable. Nazih N. Ayubi, Overstating the Arab State:Politics and Society in the Middle East(New York: I.B. Tauris, 1995).

11. Maurizio Ferrera, The Southern Model o Welare in Social Euroe,Jornal o EropeanSocial Policy, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1996).

12. Evelyne Huber, Otions or Social policy in Latin America: Neoliberal versus Social Demo-

cratic Models, in gsta Esin-Andersen, ed., Welare States in Transition: National Adaptations inGlobal Economies (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAgE publications, 1996).

13. Martin Rhodes, Southern Euroean Welare States: Identity, problems and prosects or Re-

orm, in Martin Rhodes, ed., Sothern Eropean Welare States: Between Crisis and Reorm (port-land, OR: Frank Cass, 1997).

14. Comare to the liberal model o welare. gsta Esin-Andersen, The Three Worlds o WelareCapitalism (princeton: princeton University press, 1990).


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oods were imlemented, and secialized institutions created to unnel low-cost oodsto emloyees o the state and the military. palestinians larely let out o state emloy-

ment collectively oranized in the rivate sector alon roession and kinshi lines to

obtain social insurance, a system ed by handsome remittances rom work in the gul

states. The dual income structure o the country, based on aid and remittances, encour-aed division alon national oriin lines, layin the oundation or uture sub-divisions

in the same basic vein. Dierin sources o nancin exacerbated searations betweenthe rous, allowin each to live detached rom the other and addin an economic di-

mension to identity.

While suortin the reimes allies, the welare system contributed to labor mar-ket conurations that in economic liberalization bode oorly or the very constituency

reviously rivileed. The labor market onto which East Bankers were thrown had

been altered in the intervenin decades, and their domestic rural economy let underde-veloed. With the imendin end o enerous ublic emloyment, these workers ace

scarce emloyment oortunities, mainly low-wae sulementary jobs in the new ree

trade zones (enerally staed by women). What was initially a reward is ast becomina curse under the new economic arranements.

For the reime, the downside, aarent in economic liberalization, was the lack

o a Jordanian rivate sector with which to ally. Because the rivate sector was, and re-mains, redominantly palestinian, a sinicant Jordanian or East Bank boureoisie did

not exist. The class was simly not lare enouh. Nor was there a substantial Jordanian

middle class searate rom state emloy. Brie seculation arose that the reime would

move toward palestinians or its new base o suort.15 For a multitude o reasons, sucha reime coalition would entail the dauntin task o redenin the countrys national

identity.16 When structural adjustment was initially imosed, demands or a return to

rior olicies were voiced. Contrary to ears, it was not the Jordanians o palestiniandescent who rose aainst the reime. Instead, it was the East Bankers, staunch reime

suorters, who took to the streets and made clear demands on the overnment or

chane. Havin relied uon the tribes and East Bank Jordanians as a whole, bi busi-nessmen, and the army, the Jordanians have now been droed by the state. The army

has been strenthened and larely restricted to East Bankers, while resonsibility or

rivate social insurance is now in the hands o rearraned kinshi rous and localleaders.17

15. Laurie A. Brand, Jordans Inter-Arab Relations (New York: Columbia University press,1994); Rex Brynen, Economic Crisis and post-Rentier Democratization in the Arab World: TheCase o Jordan, Canadian Jornal o Political Science, Vol. 25, No. 1 (March 1992); glenn E.Robinson, Deensive Democratization in Jordan, International Jornal o Middle East Stdies,Vol. 30 (1998); Tareq Tell, Les origines sociales de la glasnost Jordanienne [The Social Oriinso the Jordanian glasnost], in Riccardo Bocco and Mohammad-Reza Djalili, eds., Moyen-Orient:

Migrations, Democratisation, Mediations [Middle East: Migrations, Democratization, Mediations](paris: pUF, 1994).

16. Some Jordanians have esoused the oosite, leadin to concerns exressed by palestinians

in Jordan over their status in liht o the creation o the palestinian Authority and eace treaties with

Israel. See Adnan Abu-Odeh, Jordanians, Palestinians, and the Hashemite Kingdom in the MiddleEast Peace Process (Washinton, DC: United States Institute o peace press, 1999), . 235.

17. Anne Marie Baylouny, Creatin Kin: New Family Associations as Welare providers in Lib-eralizin Jordan,International Jornal o Middle East Stdies, Vol. 38, No. 3 (2006).


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The olicy o usin the military or social rovisionin corresonded with thereimes own desire or sel-reservation amidst ressures or olitical liberalization, and

was aroved by the United States. Economic reorms made welare to the eneral ou-

lation o limits as a method to secure oular leitimacy and suort. Yet in reimes

riendly to the United States, the US inored and encouraed ublic sector investment inthe military. The military became the one area on which the state could send enerously

to enerate olitical backin. The military was reerred or domestic reasons also. TheJordanian monarchys use o the military as a suort base has lon domestic roots and

stron imlications or the endurance o the reime. In the ast, a stron military su-

orted the monarchy aainst oular social movements and cou attemts alike.

SOCIAL GROuPS AND GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS

Jordans welare reime centered on the Jordanian oulation, also called East

Bankers or Transjordanians, who orm the states main suort, in contrast to the ou-lation o palestinian oriin.18 These national oriin cateories overla with demorah-ic and labor market divisions. In act, a near dichotomy o emloyment oortunities

characterize the rural and urban reions o the country. Jordanians inhabit the rural

northern and southern reions, workin rimarily in the army and state emloyment;palestinians live in the central, urbanized area o the country, where the bulk o rivate

emloyment and industry have been concentrated. This central reion contains the ma-

jority o the oulation, a mix o palestinians and Jordanians, and is home to the cai-

tal, Amman. It is by ar the most densely oulated area in the country.19 The southernand northern reions, rural and Jordanian, have a low roortion o the oulation. The

southern reion contained 10% o the total oulation, and the north around 27% in thelate 1990s.20 The south is also sarsely oulated, comared to the central and arts othe northern reions. poulation density varies between three and 59 eole er square

kilometer there.21

As reuees, the palestinians settled in the urban areas o Jordan, where mostreuee cams, administered by the United Nation Relie and Works Aency or palestine

Reuees in the Near East (UNRWA),22 came to be located.23 In addition to livin in the

18. Small minority rous are resent, such as the Circassians, Chechens, and some Armenians. In

labor market and welare analyses, the Circassians can be subsumed within the Jordanian oulation.

Likewise, the Jordanian Christians have consistently allied with the reime and were incororatedinto ublic emloy, albeit with less carte blanche than the Jordanian Muslims.

19. Hashemite Kindom o Jordan Deartment o Statistics, Jordan in Fiures 1999: poulation

density and area, www.dos.ov.jo/jor/1999/_e_n.htm. See Table 1.

20. Derived rom Deartment o Statistics Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Statistical Yearbook

1998 (Amman: Deartment o Statistics, 1999), . 9.

21. Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Statistical Yearbook 1998, . 14.

22. UNRWAs exenditures are mainly in education, with some health care. UNRWA is rumored

to be lannin a withdrawal rom administerin these areas.

23. Settlement in the cams re-created the layout o rior villae and neihborhood residences.

A villae would settle in one articular neihborhood, and even sections o that villae were settled

by their ormer streets. Sine gilen et al., Finding Ways: Palestinian Coping Strategies in Changing

Environments (Oslo, Norway: FAFO, 1994); Aseel Sawalha, Identity, Sel and the Other Amonpalestinian Reuees in East Amman, in Jean Hannoyer and Seteney Shami, eds., Amman, Ville et



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cams themselves, later waves o reuees settled nearby in order to receive servicesrovided by the United Nations oranization. UNRWA reconizes ten palestinian

reuee cams as ocial, and three more are unocial. The main cams are in East

Amman, Balqa, and areas nearby to Amman, in Madaba and Zarqa.24 Around 72,000

reistered reuees live in the most rominent cam, Wihdat, located in the easternart o the caital. Balqa, a rural area, is the larest cam, containin 79,000 reistered

dislaced eole.25 Althouh they were intended to be temorary, housin acilities inthe cams have become ermanent. The cams and surroundin low-income areas, all

overwhelminly palestinian, are overcrowded and underserved in terms o electricity

and runnin water.26 An estimated 13% o all reuees, or around 275,000 ersons, livein the cams.27 About 10% o the Jordanian oulation lives in one o the low income

areas, which include the 13 reuee cams and 14 squatter settlements.28

palestinians and Jordanians occuied dierent labor markets rivate sector orthe ormer and ublic or the latter29 due to historical rocesses o national inclu-

sion and emloyment.30 Dislaced palestinian armers, now in the city, ound inormal,

irreular, service sector work, articularly in construction, health care, and retail.31 In

[Contined rom previos page]Socit - The City and its Society (Beirut, Lebanon: CERMOC [Centre dEtudes et de Recherches surle Moyen-Orient Contemorain], 1996).

24. Blandine Destremau, Lespace d camp et la reprodction d provisoire: les camps de regisPalestiniens de Wihdat et de Jabal Hssein Amman [The Sace o the Cam and the Reroductiono the Temorary: The Cams o palestinian Reuees o Wihdat and Jabal Hussein in Amman], in

Bocco and Djalili, eds.,Moyen-Orient: migrations, dmocratisation, mediations, . 84, 91.25. Wihdat cam is inhabited rimarily by 1948 reuees; Balqa by a lare ortion o 1967 dis-

laced eole the term used or the 1967 reuees in ocial United Nations documents. gilen etal., Finding Ways.26. Jocelyn Dejon, The Urban Context o Health Durin Economic Crisis, in Hannoyer and

Shami, eds.,Amman, Ville et Socit - The City and its Society, . 272.27. Aae Tiltnes, poverty and welare in the palestinian reuee cams o Jordan: portrait o

livin conditions based on a household survey, aer resented at the palestinian Reuees and

UNRWA in Jordan, the West Bank, and gaza, 1949-1999 Conerence, Dead Sea, Jordan, Setember

1, 1999.

28. Fayiz Suyyah, poverty Manaement in Jordan: A Critical Assessment o Institutional Struc-

tures and processes, aer resented at the Worksho on the Economy conducted under ormer

director Mustaha Hamarneh, Amman, June 1999, . 10.

29. The Center or Strateic Studies reorted the share o caital owned by individuals o palestin-

ian ancestry to have been 83% in 1996. Eleven ercent was Transjordanian, and the remainder romminority rous. Abu-Odeh,Jordanians, Palestinians, and the Hashemite Kingdom, . 196.

30. While cateories o Jordanian and palestinian on the whole imlied dierin orms o liveli-

hood and welare, these divisions should be considered cautiously, as areates or which a number

o excetions existed. palestinians did work or the state, and Jordanians were involved in the rivate

sector. Desite the imrecise nature o the division, individuals are commonly termed and reconized

as either Jordanian or palestinian. See the examle in gilen et al., Finding Ways. Because o the domi-nant ractice and the eneral overla between economic oortunities and community o oriin, I will

continue to use these cateories as a shorthand heuristic devise in this study.

31. Jocelyn Dejon and Tariq Tell, Economic Crisis and the Labour Market: A Case-study o

palestinian Workers in Low-income East Amman, in Riccardo Bocco, Blandine Destremau, and Jean

Hannoyer, eds., Palestine, Palestiniens: territoire national, espaces commnataires [Palestine, Pal-

estinians: National Territory, Commnal Spaces] (Amman: CERMOC, 1997). Inormal work shouldnot be seen as an alternative to ormal emloyment, but as second best. Workers do not reer inor-



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reuee areas, only one-quarter o workers in 1985 were in any salaried emloyment,with most o the remainder casual wae laborers and etty traders.32 Their income was

sulemented by relatives workin abroad, who sent money throuh kin networks. Ru-

ral Jordanians had access mainly to ariculture as an alternative to state emloyment.

Urban Jordanians, livin in the central reion, aced the widest emloyment otential.Not only did they receive reerence in ublic emloyment, but they also could take

advantae o rivate sector oortunities available in the central reion.

THE PRODuCTION REGIME AND THE LABOR MARKET

Jordan is labor-rich and caital oor, with a lare roortion o hihly educatedlabor. prior to structural adjustment, Jordans economy was an ostensibly ree market

one, heavily reliant uon the service sector. Sinicant state investment was channeled

to rivate businesses and the overnment was resonsible or the larest ortion o the

gDp, yet ownershi was not direct as in socialist Syria to the north. Substantive eco-nomic lannin measures were absent. In act, it could be said that Jordan lacked any

dened economic develoment hilosohy at all, takin its cues instead rom interna-tional develoment oranizations such as the World Bank.33

By virtue o its reliance uon external income sources, orein aid to the state and

worker remittances to much o the local oulation, Jordan oten has been analyzed asa non-oil rentier economy.34 The overnments income came rimarily throuh cus-

toms duties and orein aid. Little domestic direct taxation, aart rom some ees, was

resent. Forein sources o income constituted over 54% o the budet in 1980 and

thereabouts or most o the 1970s, declinin to about one-third in 1988.35 Most aid was

or eneral budet suort. Revenue rom domestic income tax, on the other hand, wasenerally about 11 or 12%.36 Customs duties constituted one-third to one-hal o total

overnment tax revenue. Taris on oods varied widely, averain 40%.37 A stroncurrency suorted these olicies, aravatin manuacturins troubles.

[Contined rom previos page]malarranements, due to their recariousness and vulnerability. gabriella pinnar and Enrico pu-liese, Inormalization and Social Resistance: The Case o Nales, in N. Redclit and E. Minione,

eds.,Beyond Employment: Hosehold, Gender, and Sbsistence (Oxord: Blackwell, 1985).32. Rebecca Miles Doan, Class Dierentiation and the Inormal Sector in Amman, Jordan, In-

ternational Jornal o Middle East Stdies, Vol. 24, No. 1 (February 1992), . 32.33. Jawwad al-Anani, Falsaat al-iqtisad al-urdni bayna al-fkr wa al-tatbiq khilala nis al-qarn al-madi [philosohy o the Jordanian economy between theory and ractice durin the lasthal century], in Mustaa al-Hamarneh, ed., al-Iqtisad al-urdni: al-mshkilat wa al-aaq [The Jor-danian Economy: Problems and Ftre] (Amman: Center or Strateic Studies, 1994). USAID alsoheled lan the economys direction. Rami g. Khouri, uSAID and the Private Sector in Jordan: AChronicle. The Genesis, Agst 1985-Agst 1988 (Amman: Al Kutba publishers, 1989).

34. See or examle Hazem Beblawi, The Rentier State in the Arab World, in giacomo Luciani,

ed., The Arab State (Berkeley: University o Caliornia press, 1990).35. This also has been termed olitical rent.

36. Brand,Jordans Inter-Arab Relations, . 49.37. Tayseer Abdel Jaber, The Cometitiveness o Jordans Manuacturin Industry, in Matthes

Buhbe and Sami Zreiat, eds., The Indstrialization o Jordan: Achievements & Obstacles (Amman,Jordan: Friedrich Ebert Stitun Research Institute, 1989).


9/28


The countrys other main income was worker remittances, eedin customs du-ties, and rivate consumtion. In the early 1980s, 40% o the labor orce worked outside

the country, and remittances ormed the larest comonent o the national income.38

Reorted remittances at their hihest durin this eriod equaled 124% o Jordans trade

exorts. The overnment catured this income throuh oen nancial markets, hihcustoms duties, and exit and other ees. Remittances rovided around one-third o the

gNp (ross national roduct), at times outacin orein aid, and undin a neativebalance o trade. The investment role o the mirant leans heavily toward consum-

tion, not investment, sent on land and housin construction or examle.39 Income

rom exatriate workers, sent to immediate amily members, was used to urchasehousehold necessities and consumer oods, and und education.

Domestically, the lions share o jobs was in the civil service and army, account-

in or around 47% o emloyment.40 Eleven ercent o jobs were in industry in 1986,mainly in hoshate and other raw material extraction.41 The state invested heavily in

these rivate sector comanies, oten constitutin majority ownershi, eectively blur-

rin the ublic-rivate distinction.42 While a lare ortion, estimated at three-ourths oEast Bankers nationwide, worked or the overnment in some caacity,43 in the reions

outside the caital this roortion reached staerin heihts. The ublic sector was

virtually the only emloyment in these reions. At the advent o structural adjustment,92% o the domestic labor orce in Karak worked in the ublic sector; 99.5% in Taleh;

90% in Maan all in the southern reion. By contrast, the central areas o palestinian

concentration, Amman, Zarqa, and Balqa, had 58%, 56%, and 58% ublic emloy-

ment resectively.44

38. M. Samha, The Imact o Miratory Flows on poulation Chanes in Jordan: A Middle East

ern Case Study,International Migration , Vol. 28, No. 2 (June 1990), . 216.39. Charles B. Keely and Bassam Saket, Jordanian Mirant Workers in the Arab Reion: A Case

Study o Consequences or Labor Sulyin Countries, The Middle East Jornal, Vol. 38, No. 4(Autumn 1984); Bassam K. Saket, Economic Uses o Remittances - the Case o Jordan, in Monther

Share, ed.,Jordans Place Within the Arab Oil Economies (Irbid: Yarmouk University, 1986). Feesrom land urchases increased sharly durin the 1970s, demonstratin the domestic connection to

the gul economy. Omar Razzaz, Contested Sace: Urban Settlement Around Amman,Middle EastReport, March-Aril 1993.

40. Timothy piro, Political Economy o Market Reorm in Jordan (Lanham, MD: Rowman &Littleeld publishers, 1998), . 40. Estimates o the total domestic workorce emloyed by the ov-

ernment at this time enerally rane rom 45-50%. The World Bank ut it at 45%, translatin into257,000 individuals, in 1991. O these, 90,000 were in overnment administration, 30,000 in autono-

mous institutions under the overnments umbrella, and the remainder emloyed by the army. Coun-

try Oerations Division World Bank, Country Deartment III, Euroe, Middle East and North Arica

Reion, Jordan public Exenditure Review (Washinton, DC: World Bank, 1991), . vii.

41. Abdel Jaber, The Cometitiveness o Jordans Manuacturin Industry.

42. This mixed sector was counted as rivate in overnment statistics. For detailed overnment

investment amounts in rivate and ublic sector comanies, see Franois Rivier, Croissance Indstri-elle dans ne Economie Assiste: Le Cas Jordanien [Indstrial Growth in an Assisted Economy: The

Jordanian Case] (Beirut: CERMOC, 1980), . 205-7.43. Brynen, Economic Crisis and post-Rentier Democratization.

44. Deartment o Statistics Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Dirasat al-istikhdam, fl-massasat

alati yaamal bi-kl minha 5 ashkhas aw akthar [Emloyment Survey, For Establishments Ena-in Five persons or More] (Amman: Deartment o Statistics, 1992), Tables 8 and 9.


10/28


Deendence uon orein income sources had direct eects on Jordans roduc-tion role. Economically, it skewed labor market incentives toward either state em-

loyment or work in the gul. Ariculture declined, as is oten witnessed in rentier or

aid-deendent states, and the service sector increased without accomanyin industrial

develoment. Remittance income urthered this tendency toward consumtion and ser-vice sector activities. The laissez-aire economic aroach meant indirect sinals to

rivate business throuh state investment, not manaement. The near-comlete absenceo rural industry was one consequence o this develoment structure.

The states economic develoment trajectory translated into nelect and contin-

ued underdeveloment or the rural, Jordanian reions. The service-oriented economyrovided neither steady emloyment nor oortunities there. The main rivate em-

loyment remained ariculture, which declined in the oil boom. Hiher salaries were

available with the overnment durin the oil decade, ushin armin out o the realmo viable emloyment. From one-third o all emloyment in the 1960s,45 ariculture

sank to less than 10% o domestic labor in the 1980s.46 The eld was surrendered to

orein workers or became art-time, seasonal work or Jordanian women, children,and the elderly. The aricultural roducts rom these arms were rimarily used in

home consumtion, sulementin the main income rom overnment jobs.47 Domes-

tic unemloyment droed to almost nil durin the boom o the 1970s, and Jordanbean imortin workers. Not strictly relacement labor, these mirants lled ositions

unwanted by the domestic oulation at overty waes.48

45. E. Kanovsky, The Economy o Jordan: The Implications o Peace in the Middle East (TelAviv: University publishin projects, 1976), . 6; Richard T. Antoun,Arab Village: A Social Strc-

tral Stdy o a Trans-Jordanian Peasant Commnity (Bloominton, IN: Indiana University press,1972), . 27; Rivier, Croissance Indstrielle dans ne Economie Assiste.46. Ian J. Seccombe, Labour Emiration policies and Economic Develoment in Jordan: From

Unemloyment to Labour Shortae, in Bichara Khader and Adnan Badran, eds., The Economic De-velopment o Jordan (London: Croon Helm, 1987), . 123.

47. Tareq Tell, Paysans, nomades et tat en Jordanie orientale: les politiqes de dveloppementrral (1920-1989) [peasants, Nomads and the State in Oriental Jordan: The politics o Rural De-veloment (1920-1989)], in Riccardo Bocco, Ronald Jaubert, and Franoise Mtral, eds., SteppesdArabies. Etats, pasters, agriclters et commerants: le devenir des zones sches [Arabian Steps.States, Clergy, Farmers, and Merchants: The Evoltion o Arid Zones] (paris: presses Universitairesde France, 1993), . 97.

48. Mauro Van Aken, Develoment as a it: patterns o assistance and reuees strateies in

the Jordan Valley, aer resented at the palestinian Reuees and UNRWA in Jordan, the WestBank and gaza, 1949-1999 Conerence, Dead Sea, Jordan, Setember 1, 1999. Farmin bean to

be considered a sare-time activity to be done by women, old men, children, and those who have no

better otions, in addition to Eytians. Forein workers, mainly Eytians, are currently estimated

at 90% o uest workers. About one-third o the reistered 150,000 uest workers are emloyed in

ariculture, and one-quarter in construction and sanitation. However, estimates are that only one-th

o orein workers are reistered. Other estimates ut the number o Eytians alone at 300,000.

They are believed to deress waes by workin or less than Jordanians. Some recent moves to in-

crease licensin ees or workers in ariculture and nursin are intended to oen sace or Jordanian

workers. Jordan, Eyt seek ways to control infux o Eytian labour to Kindom,Jordan Times,November 16, 1999, . 2; Mohammad Ben Hussein, Reistered orein labourers number 154,000

in 1999,Jordan Times, Aril 26, 2000; 35 naiban ytalibn bi-iada al-nazr f dariba al-mabiat

al-marda ala al-sajair [35 Reresentatives Request Revisin the Sales Tax on Ciarettes], al-Rai, November 29, 1999, . 1.


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WELFARE INSTITuTIONS AND THE SOCIAL BASE OF THE STATE

government-allocated welare was rovided rst throuh ublic emloyment,

rimarily or Jordanians, and later throuh subsidies on basic oods which beneted

the eneral oulation.49

The Jordanians lon received welare throuh state emloy-ment, datin rom the mandate era and initial state ormation, when loyalty was ur-

chased throuh carrot and stick olicies. Anti-overnment tribes were settled and made

economically deendent uon the new overnment.50 John Baot glubb, the Britishocer chared with subduin the bedouin, recruited the desert tribes into the Arab

Leion, oerin benets unavailable elsewhere.51 Famines were created and then al-

leviated by the rulin British.52 Tax revolts were orcibly ut down by the army, theinstitution which interated and emloyed the local oulation.53 Initially somewhat

mercenary in oriin, with some hailin rom outside Jordan, military ersonnel became

reime suorters.

So interal was the army to state-buildin that one scholar contends it eec-tively created the Jordanian state.54 Already in the 1950s, the military was the larest

emloyer, ater ariculture, o villae workers. Just shy o 30% o villae men were

emloyed in the military in 1960, a calculation which excludes those in the overnmentbureaucracy.55 Emloyment in ublic works rojects was another means to incororate

the tribes. government investment and lannin was redominantly directed at the East

Bank, nelectin the palestinian West Bank durin Jordans eriod o administrativerule there.56

The state not only rovided emloyment and ood or the eneral oulation,

but secial benets were also ranted to tribal leaders. Continuin the British colonial

49. Jordan sends 35% o its budet on social services. Alon with Tunisia it is amon the states

with the hihest roortion o social exenditures in the reion, includin gul oil states. Syria,

avowedly socialist, sends only 14% o its budet on social services. Muhammad Q. Islam, Fiscal

policy and Social Welare in Selected MENA Countries, in Wassim Shahin and ghassan Dibeh,

eds., Earnings Ineqality, unemployment, and Poverty in the Middle East and North Arica (West-ort, CT: greenwood press, 2000), . 105.

50. Mustaa B. Hamarneh, Social and Economic Transormation o Trans-Jordan 1921-1946

(Unublished ph.D. dissertation, georetown University, 1985); Naseer H. Aruri,Jordan: A Stdy inPolitical Development (1921-1965) (The Haue: Martinus Nijho, 1972).

51. Riccardo Bocco and Tariq M.M. Tell, Pax Britannica in the Stee: British policy and theTransjordan Bedouin, in Euene L. Roan and Tariq Tell, eds., Village, Steppe and State: The SocialOrigins o Modern Jordan (New York: British Academic press, 1994); p.J. Vatikiotis, Politics and the

Military in Jordan: A Stdy o the Arab Legion 1921-1957(London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1967).52. Tariq Tell, guns, gold, and grain: War and Food Suly in the Makin o Transjordan, in

Steven Heydemann, ed., War, Instittions, and Social Change in the Middle East(Berkeley: Univer-sity o Caliornia press, 2000).

53. Bocco and Tell, Pax Britannica in the Stee.54. Vatikiotis, Politics and the Military in Jordan.55. Antoun,Arab Village, . 27.56. gad g. gilbar, The Economy o Nablus and the Hashemites: The Early Years, 1949-56,Middle

Eastern Stdies, Vol. 25, No. 1 (January 1989); Rivier, Croissance Indstrielle dans ne Economie As-

siste, . 68. As a result o these measures and the lack o emloyment oortunities in the West Bank,much o the oulation emirated eastward into Jordan. Kanovsky, The Economy o Jordan, . 10.


12/28


era stratey o incororation,57 heads o tribes or shaykhs received cash allowances,alon with subsidies and aricultural resources to arm their new land, or alleiance to

the new reime. Lare land owners received suort, loans, and aid rom the overn-

ment, articularly via irriation rojects in the Jordan Valley (the East ghor).58 Favor-

able mortaes were ranted to West Bank landowners suortin the new Hashemitestate.59 Owner-oerator arms, which ormed the vast majority o arms, did not receive

such suort.60Develoments in the 1970s exacerbated these trends. The massive increase in aid

to the state ermitted an exansion in state emloyment or Jordanians. Throuh the

bureaucracy, monies were distributed to loyal sectors o the oulace, securin alle-iance and deendence. The rivileed imortance o East Bankers to the overnment

is aarent in the state budets o this time, since a disroortionate amount (over one-

third) went to the least oulated East Bank reions in the south o the country (10%o the oulation).61 In addition to direct emloyment in state institutions, military

construction and works rojects ltered overnment undin to these rural areas.

The military increased three-old rom 1961 to 1975. In 1975, one-ourth o thedomestic labor orce was in the security services.62 Such uaranteed emloyment and

reerential treatment did not make the rural Jordanian oulation economically better

o, but rovided them with a uaranteed, steady income.63 Social security, adequatehealth care, and access to emerency loans were erks o ublic emloyment. State

emloyees also could take advances on earnins, which constituted the main orm o

loans. Military service rovided extra social benets. In addition to health care, em-

loyees o the military and their amilies were eliible or state-subsidized (essentiallyree) hiher education, whose seats were reserved or them throuh quotas.64 govern-

57. Joseh A. Massad, Identiyin the Nation: The Juridical and Military Bases o Jordanian

National Identity (ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1998), . 111. Later ublished as a book:

Joseh A. Massad, Colonial Eects: The Making o National Identity in Jordan (New York: Colum-bia University press, 2001).

58, Brynen, Economic Crisis and post-Rentier Democratization, . 82; Michael p. Mazur, Eco-nomic Growth and Development in Jordan (London: Croom Helm, 1979).

59. Bocco and Tell, Pax Britannica in the Stee; Rodney Wilson, The Role o CommercialBankin in the Jordanian Economy, in Bichara Khader and Adnan Badran, eds., The Economic De-velopment o Jordan (London: Croon Helm, 1987).

60. The British land olicy established a relatively ealitarian distribution, allowin or small eas-

ants to remain on their lots. This aruably contributed to the anti-revolution, ro-overnment stanceo the tribal constituencies. Michael R. Fischbach, British Land policy in Transjordan, in Roan and

Tell, eds., Village, Steppe and State: The Social Origins o Modern Jordan.61. Demonstrated in the 1986-1990 ve year lan or Taleh, Karak, and Maan. Brynen, Eco-

nomic Crisis and post-Rentier Democratization, . 82.

62. Mazur, Economic Growth and Development in Jordan, . 111.63. Riccardo Bocco, Etat et tribs bdoines en Jordanie, 1920-1990. Les Hwaytat: territoire,

changement conomiqe, identit politiqe [The State and Bedouin Tribes in Jordan rom 1920-1990. The Huwaytat: Territory, Economic Shit, Identity politics (Unublished ph.D. dissertation,

Institut dEtudes olitiques, 1996).

64. Full scholarshis were available ater ten years o service. These laces at state universities, the

most restiious educational institutions, were much coveted. Majed Bader, al-Talim al-ali fl-ur-

dn: bayna al-masliyya al-hkmiyya wa al-qita al-khas [ Higher Edcation in Jordan: BetweenPblic and Private Sectors] (Amman: CERMOC, 1994). As Massad states, this olicy toether with[Contined on next page]


13/28


ment-subsidized housin also accomanied military emloy.65 The military itsel wasseldom a lie-lon career. Uon retirement around ae 30, ormer army ersonnel were

ree to seek other emloyment while continuin to receive a ension. Health and social

security benets covered the entire amily o the emloyee, i male.66 The states health

and education sendin, amountin to $163 er erson in 1983, was sinicantly hih-er than in other develoin countries.67 Social security, established by law in 1978 to

bein unctionin in 1980, covered much o the domestically emloyed oulation.68A new bureaucracy chared with allocation and not taxation oten oerates by

non-economic criteria,69 and this was certainly the case or Jordan. Jobs were won on

the basis o connections or wasta, not qualications, oeratin throuh tribal leaders orcomatriots in the state administration.70 Ater the Black Setember 1970-1 clashes

between the pLO and the Jordanian army, the reime bean removin palestinians

rom sensitive ositions in the administration and military. This Jordanization o thestate beneted East Bank Jordanians, whose oriin was considered amle qualica-

tion or jobs.71 In act, state emloyment was analyzed by some to be the denin

characteristic o East Banker identity.72 By 1985, the number o emloyees in the civil

[Contined rom previos page]military-only consumer stores increased the militarys economic role. Massad, Colonial Eects, . 219.

65. Brynen, Economic Crisis and post-Rentier Democratization, . 81-2.

66. I the emloyed is a woman, her deendents only have access to social security and health

insurance i she is certied head o the household, not an easy or common accomlishment. Abla

Amawi, gender and Citizenshi in Jordan, in Suad Joseh, ed., Gender and Citizenship in theMiddle East(Syracuse: Syracuse University press, 2000), . 179.

67. Mohammad Ben Hussein, Construction council to oranise sector with amendments to con-

tractors assn. law, Jordan Times, May 19-20, 2000; Brynen, Economic Crisis and post-RentierDemocratization, . 81. private universities and community collees are attemtin to answer theexcess demand. The country sent 11.2% o its gNp in 1992 on education. Bader,Higher edcationin Jordan.

68. To mobilize savins o exatriate workers, dual nationals were acknowleded in 1987 and

allowed to articiate in the Social Security Cororation. Massad, Identiyin the Nation, . 60;

John M. Roberts, The olitical economy o identity: state and society in Jordan (Unublished ph.D.

dissertation, University o Chicao, 1994). Most o those covered were men, and amounted to about

one-ourth o the work orce in the late 1990s. Hashemite Kindom o Jordan Social Security Coro-

ration, Overview and Tables, www.ssc.ov.jo. About 300,000 workers are insured in the roram.

Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Statistical Yearbook 1998, . 222.

69. Kiren Aziz Chaudhry, The Price o Wealth: Oil and Labor Exporters in the International

Economy (Ithaca: Cornell University press, 1997).70. Riat al-Faouri, al-Wasata fl-qita al-hkmi al-urdni: dirasa maydaniyya lil-idara al-ws-ta [Intermediation in Jordans Government Sector: A Stdy o the Middle Administration], Abhathmarkaz al-dirasat al-rdniyya [Researches o Jordanian Studies Center] (Irbid: Yarmouk Universitypublications, 1997); Robert B. Cunninham and Yasin K. Sarayrah, Wasta: The Hidden Force in Mid-dle Eastern Society (Westort, CT: praeer, 1993), Jamil E. Jreisat, Bureaucracy and Develomentin Jordan,Jornal o Asian and Arican Stdies , Vol. 24, No. 1-2 (1989); Schirin Fathi,Jordan - An

Invented Nation? Tribe-State Dynamics and the Formation o National Identity (Hambur: DeutchesOrient-Institut, 1994).

71. Abu-Odeh, Jordanians, Palestinians, and the Hashemite Kingdom; Lamia Radi, La gestiondappartenances mltiples [Manain Multile Belonins], Les Cahiers de lOrient, No. 35(1994); Yezid Sayih, Jordan in the 1980s: leitimacy, entity and identity, in Rodney Wilson, ed.,

Politics and the Economy in Jordan (New York: Routlede, 1991).72. Laurie A. Brand, palestinians and Jordanians: A Crisis o Identity, Jornal o Palestine



14/28


service had triled rom its 1970 number, a number which excludes the militarys ownexansion.73

Jordanization roceeded unhindered as palestinians let the country or work

abroad durin the oil boom, vacatin the ublic sector o cometition. Whole classes

can be remade without a whiser o rotest durin economic booms.74

In eect, Jordansolved its domestic interation roblems throuh the exort o rimarily palestin-

ian labor. The Jordanian state bean an exlicit olicy o rioritizin East Bankers inovernment ositions, simultaneously minimizin the palestinian resence in ublic

administration and the military. given the ossibility o larer nancial ains throuh

work abroad, palestinians acquiesced to this new situation without objection.75 O-cially reorted remittances averaed a yearly $220 er East Bank resident in 1976 (dis-

countin the West Bank territories administered at the time by Jordan).76 In palestinian

squatter settlements, the majority o amilies had one or more members emloyed inthe gul.77 Almost all o returnin exatriate workers rom the gul War had suorted

relatives durin their stay abroad, and over hal aided our or more amily members.78

These inormal methods were sulemented by roessional associations, mainly ben-etin palestinians.79 proessionals in the rivate sector obtained welare throuh the

union or association, not their job or emloyer. private ension lans throuh roes-

sional associations bean in 1971.80 The doctors association, or examle, rovided

[Contined rom previos page]Stdies, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Summer 1995).

73. Jreisat, Bureaucracy and Develoment in Jordan, . 99; paul A. Jureidini and R.D. McLau-

rin, Jordan: The Impact o Social Change on the Role o the Tribes (New York: praeer pub-

lishers, 1984).74. Chaudhry, The Price o Wealth.75. Abu-Odeh,Jordanians, Palestinians, and the Hashemite Kingdom, . 190-1. He contends that

this is how palestinians were ushed out o the national consensus.

76. Mazur, Economic Growth and Development in Jordan, . 119.77. Family is immediate amily. The data is rom 1980. Seteney Shami, Domesticity Recon-

ured: Women in Squatter Areas o Amman, in Dawn Chatty and Annika Rabo, eds., OrganizingWomen: Formal and Inormal Womens Grops in the Middle East (New York: Ber, 1997), . 88.

78. Hisham H. Ahmed and Mary A. Williams-Ahmed, The imact o the gul Crisis on Jordans

economic inra-structure: a study o the resonses o 207 dislaced palestinian and Jordanian work-

ers,Arab Stdies Qarterly , Vol. 15, No. 4 (1993); B.S. Anderson, The History o the Jordanian Na-tional Movement: Its Leaders, Ideoloies, Successes and Failures (ph.D. dissertation, University o

Caliornia, Los Aneles, 1997). Later ublished as Betty S. Anderson,Nationalist Voices in Jordan:The Street and the State (Austin: University o Texas press, 2005). Families who received remittancesrom a relative workin abroad did not receive income rom the state and vice versa, demonstratin

the slit between ublic and rivate labor markets. Jon Hanssen-Bauer, Jon pedersen, and Ae A.

Tiltnes, eds.,Jordanian Society: Living Conditions in the Hashemite Kingdom o Jordan, Fao-reortNo. 253 (Oslo: Fao Institute or Alied Social Science, 1998), . 290.

79. Accordin to Lonuenesse, welare rom roessional associations substituted or the lack o

state-level social uarantees. In addition, they acted as a redistribution measure amon members and

rovided increased status and dierentiation o the roessional rom the workin class. In line with

the trend toward rivate welare, an increase in social rovision in the 1990s has been aarent in

these unions, in addition to credit or urchasin consumer oods. Elisabeth Lonuenesse, proes-

sional Syndicates in Jordan, Talk iven to CERMOC, Amman, 1998.

80. The idea or ension and health insurance unds in these associations was brouht u in 1965but was rejected on the basis that doctors were not in nancial need o such rovisions. Lonue-



15/28


ension, insurance, and loans to member doctors and their amilies.The oil boom surred another o the states welare mechanisms, subsidizin

and reulatin consumer rices. The food o currency rom abroad, throuh exatriate

salaries sent home to relatives, and nancial aid to the state, had increased domestic

infation. State salaries could not kee ace.81

In the decade ollowin 1972, the cost olivin increased by 300%.82 Ater troubles in the army over this, the Ministry o Suly

was set u in 1974 to administer subsidies on oods considered basic, or oliticallysensitive.83 Maximum retail rices were set. goods were imorted by the state, then

rovided below cost throuh civil and military cooeratives to which ublic sector

emloyees had access.84 This had the additional eect o deressin market rices.Reulations rst covered wheat, suar, and etroleum. Fixed rices subsequently ex-

tended to a host o items, includin owdered milk, bread, oultry, meat, cheeses, soda,

rice, asta, coee, and tea. Non-ood items covered included soa, ciarettes, sare cararts, and school notebooks. Electricity and water services were chared roressively,

and luxury oods were subject to hih customs duties.85 The oulation as a whole

beneted rom these subsidies, althouh only state emloyees could urchase rom thecooeratives. Both palestinians and Jordanians used household and inormal reciro-

cal mechanisms on to o these measures, addin to and eedin o o state welare.86

These rassroots networks were not structured alon the lines o the traditional extend-ed amily, but enerally consisted o neihbors, close riends, and immediate amily.

ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATIONS SOCIAL IMPACT

In line with the ate o its neihbors, the roserous, state-led eriod o the 1970s

succumbed to the reional recession o the mid-1980s. As the oil boom turned bust,some countries hobbled alon via loans or a ew years. In Jordan, the reional oil rice

decline translated into a radical dro in orein aid money and labor remittances. For-ein debt increased as the country borrowed to continue sendin. On to o the lare

and rowin accumulated debt, the administrative detachment rom the West Bank in

[Contined rom previos page]nesse, proessional Syndicates in Jordan.

81. Zayd J. Shasha, The role o the rivate sector in Jordans economy, in Wilson, ed., Politicsand the Economy in Jordan, . 84.82. Hani Hourani,Azma al-iqtisad al-urdni [The Crisis o Jordans Economy] (Nicosia, Cyrus:

al-Urdun al-Jadid, 1989), . 67.

83. Mazur, Economic Growth and Development in Jordan. The armys salary was raised ater theunrest. The overnment had beun subsidizin wheat in the 1960s.

84. Interview by author with Economic Director o the Secretary general Oce, Ministry o Su-

ly (Wizarat al-Tamwin), Aril 22, 1998.85. Taher H. Kanaan, The Social Dimension in Jordans Aroach to Develoment, in Kamel

Abu Jaber, Matthes Buhbe, and Mohammad Smadi, eds., Income Distribtion in Jordan (San Fran-cisco: Westview press in cooeration with the Friedrich Ebert Stitun, 1990).

86. The benets o state emloyment were accessed by a wider network than simly those em-

loyed and their immediate amilies. Friends and distant amily oten could obtain these services identity and health cards were swaed, or examle.


16/28


July 198887 contributed to the currencys devaluation.88 The dinar decreased by over athird by 1989, subsequently declinin urther. In February 1989, the overnment shut

down the money-chanin establishments it viewed as resonsible in an attemt to halt

the dinars downward siral.89

With no oreseeable end to the crisis, Jordan turned to the International MonetaryFund, which olicy-makers considered the only source o relie.90 Neotiations yielded

a structural adjustment lan which included the removal o subsidies, rivatization oublic sector investments, cuts in state emloyment, and radual elimination o customs

duties. Beun in 1989, at rst little o the states moves were in overt rivatization, i.e.

the sellin o state assets.91 The reime sheltered its suorters as lon as ossible, whilesimultaneously movin toward the creation o a new social base. privatization steed

u late in the 1990s, beinnin with telecommunications, water, electricity, and Royal

Jordanian, the national airline. The Ministry o Suly, which had overseen subsidies andrice suorts, was dismantled and transerred to the Ministry o Industry and Trade in

1998.92

Increases in uel rices, a main inredient o the ackae, sarked immediate ri-ots in the reime-suortin southern town o Maan in 1989.93 Maan, a transortation

center, made its livin truckin oods between Iraq and the ort o Aqaba. Residents

not workin in transort were emloyed either in the state, the army, or ariculture.government jobs rovided small, borderline overty incomes, unable to kee ace with

87. The detachment let the West Bank oulation, without warnin, stateless. Since Aril 24,

1950, West Bank residents had been declared Jordanian by parliamentary resolution, and the two

banks united. Anis F. Kassim, The palestinians: From Hyhenated to Interated Citizenshi, in Nils

A. Butenschon, Uri Davis, and Manuel Hassassian, eds., Citizenship and the State in the Middle East:Approaches and Applications (Syracuse: Syracuse University press, 2000).88. Robert Satlo, Jordans great gamble: Economic Crisis and political Reorm, in Henri

Barkey, ed., The Politics o Economic Reorm in the Middle East (New York: St. Martins press,1992); Khaled Wasi al-Wazani, al-Jihaz al-masrif wa al-siyasa al-naqdiyya fl-urdn, 1989-1995[The Banking System and Financial Policy in Jordan, 1989-1995] (Amman: Center or StrateicStudies, Economic Studies Unit, University o Jordan, 1996). The World Bank laced ultimate blame

or Jordans debt on its military buildu in the 1980s, alon with excess overnment emloyment.

World Bank, Jordan public Exenditure Review, . 4.

89. Jordan: Debt Diculties, Oxord Analytica Daily Brie, February 23, 1989.90. Khaled al-Wazani, Jordan: Strateic Otions or growth and Develoment Facin poverty

and Unemloyment, aer resented at the Worksho on the Economy conducted under CSS or-

mer director Mustaha Hamarneh, Amman, June 1999. For local analyses o Jordans economy, itsreional booms and busts, and the secics o structural adjustment, see Wasi Aazir et al, al-Islahal-iqtisadi wa al-tanmiyya al-bashariyya fl-urdn [Economic Reorm and Hman Development in

Jordan] (Amman: Muassassa Abd al-Hamid Shouman and al-Muassassa al-Arabiyya, 1999). Fora structural account o Jordans roblems, emhasizin the lack o manuacturin, see Hourani, Thecrisis o Jordans economy.

91. Taher H. Kanaan, The State and the private Sector in Jordan, in Nemat Shak, ed., EconomicChallenges Facing Middle Eastern and North Arican Contries: Alternative Ftres (New York: St.Martins press, 1998).

92. Michel Marto (Minister o Finance) and Ziad Fariz (Central Bank governor), Letter o Intent

o the government o Jordan to Michel Camdessus, International Monetary Fund, 28 Auust 1999,

International Monetary Fund, www.im.or/external/n/loi/1999/082899.htm.

93. Lamis Andoni, The ve days that shook Jordan,Middle East International, Aril 28, 1989,. 3-4.


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infation that was risin 30% and 50%. price increases reached 50% on uel, ciarettes,hone bills, and residential water, comoundin the eect o the dinars dereciation.94

Irriated water and ertilizer rice increases aected armers,95 and the removal o sub-

sidies on meat was lanned or the ollowin year.96

The 1990-1 gul War aravated the economic redicament. The removal o amajor tradin artner, Iraq, aected rivate income, business, and the state budet. Iraq

had been an imortant rovider o aid and uel to Jordan. The transort sector, linkedto Iraq, declined substantially in the 1990s. Remittances rom workers in the gul had

been low and continued their all, bottomin out in 1991.97 The war increased the do-

mestic labor orce, as exatriate workers were exelled rom Kuwait uon its recaturerom the Iraqis. Overniht, 300,000 workers carryin Jordanian assorts, mostly pal-

estinians, returned to a country many had never inhabited but only visited on holiday.

While unemloyment and infation certainly increased as a result, economic benetsalso accomanied their return. The ormer gul workers brouht lare amounts o cai-

tal, worth about one billion USD,98 much o which was used to establish small-scale

and retail businesses.99 Bank deosits doubled durin the return eriod.100 Whole com-mercial sectors o the caital were created anew by these returnees.

In 1996, riots in Jordanian areas aain ollowed the removal o subsidies. Three

days ater endin wheat subsidies, eectively trilin the rice o bread, riots bean inKarak, a key area or reime suort. Karaks labor orce was almost wholly deen-

dent uon state and military emloy.101 Banks and overnment buildins were attacked,

amon them the Ministry o Education that had just raised school ees. police in riot ear

suressed the crowds and eaceul marchers.102 While the Kin blamed oreiners andthe Bath olitical arty,103 observers commented that the oulace rioted out o ears o

94. Jordan: New government, Oxord Analytica Daily Brie, May 2, 1989.95. Jordan: Fraile Kindom, Oxord Analytica Daily Brie, October 15, 1991.96. World Bank, Jordan public Exenditure Review, . 6.

97. Reorted worker remittances reached a low in 1991 o 389 million JD. They were 1,032 mil-

lion JD in 1997. Ministry o plannin, Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Plan or Economic and SocialDevelopment 1993-1997(Amman: Jordan press Foundation, 1993), . 120; Hashemite Kindom oJordan, Statistical Yearbook 1998.

98. For the two years o 1992 and 1993, reatriated savins totaled around $1 billion. Hashemite

Kindom o Jordan, Plan or Economic and Social Development 1993-1997, . 120; Hashemite Kin-dom o Jordan, Statistical Yearbook 1998, . 275. Fiures vary by the source, however the trend is

clear.99. New rojects reistered at the Chamber o Industry increased by an averae o two or three

hundred or the years 1991-93. Yann Le Troquer and Rozenn Hommery al-Oudat, From Kuwait to

Jordan: The palestinians Third Exodus,Jornal o Palestine Stdies, Vol. 28, No. 3 (1999), . 43.100. Nicholas Van Hear, Limpact des rapatriements orcs vers la Jordanie et le Ymen pendant

la crise d gole [The Imact o Forced Reatriation to Jordan and Yemen durin the gul Crisis],in Bocco and Djalili, eds.,Moyen-Orient: migrations, dmocratisation, mediations .

101. pamela Douherty, The ain o adjustment - Keraks bread riots as a resonse to Jordans

continuin economic restructurin roramme: a eneral overview, Jordanies, No. 2 (December1996).

102. Lamis Andoni and Jillian Schwedler, Bread Riots in Jordan,Middle East Report, No. 201(1996), . 41.

103. As has been reconized, the Kins resonse to the 1996 riots in Karak was the oosite o thatin 1989. The Kin suorted prime Minister Kabariti, ket him in oce, and dissolved parliament.


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huner.104 Bread is the stale o the lower classes, and the rice rise occurred on to o de-clinin oortunities or state jobs, alonside the whittlin away o other subsidies. price

increases aected all ood items usin wheat as an inut, i.e. dairy, oultry, and meat.105

Suerin rom reduced state emloyment and declinin ossibilities abroad,

much o the roessional class was unemloyed.106

The roortion o roessional la-bor is extremely hih in Jordan, more than in most advanced industrial countries, since

the country served as a source o educated labor or the oil states. Forty ercent oaricultural enineers were unemloyed, and the rest had an averae salary o only 120

Jordanian Dinars (JD)/month, less than $170, a borderline overty salary.107 Thirteen

ercent o dentists were unemloyed.108 Work in the gul was no loner the manna itonce was. Oortunities declined as nationals relaced exatriates.109 Areate num-

bers o Jordanian exatriates, ater declinin sharly, rebounded to the 1989 level, but

the ercentae o the Jordanian labor orce emloyed abroad declined, and the value othe remittance receits eroded.110

Yet the urban classes, palestinians included, had more resources to coe with aus-

terity. Remittances were still fowin, albeit at a lower roortional rate, and the otiono miratin or work, much diminished, remained. One-third o cam residents received

remittances rom abroad in the 1990s.111 More imortantly, the bulk o rivate business

and industry was located in the center. previously less deendent on the state, urbanrous develoed extensive networks o recirocity and distribution. By contrast, the

rural, mainly Transjordanian areas, deendent uon state emloyment were articularly

vulnerable as structural adjustment roceeded.112 Low-aid aricultural work was no lon-

104. Lamis Andoni, Jordan: behind the recent disturbances,Middle East International, October

25, 1996, . 17-18. The army steed in with a curew to end the rotests.105. Many have been orced to substitute bread or other, now more exensive, ood items, leadin to

the seeminly aradoxical situation o an increase in bread consumtion with the bread rices rise.

106. Elisabeth Lonuenesse, Ingniers et march de lemploi en Jordanie [Enineers and theWorkins o Emloyment in Jordan], in Elisabeth Lonuenesse, ed., Btissers et Breacrates:

Ingniers et Socit a Maghreb et a Moyen-Orient[ Bilders and Breacrats: Engineers andSociety in the Maghreb and the Middle East], tdes sr le Monde Arabe, N. 4 (Table-Ronde Centre

National de la Recherche Scientifqe) (Lyon: Maison de lOrient, 1990). Jordans labor orce ishihly educated. In 1998, 28% o 18-23 year olds were enrolled in hiher education. Bader,Higheredcation in Jordan. In other words, 30 out o every 1000 ersons were collee students. HashemiteKindom o Jordan Deartment o Statistics, Key National Indicators, www.dos.ov.jo/sdb_jd/jd_

txt3e.htm. Out o a labor orce o less than one million, 40,000 were enineers. Hashemite Kindom

o Jordan, Statistical Yearbook 1998, . 232.107. Aricultural enineers union aain taken by Islamists,Jordan Times, March 29, 1998, . 3.108. 500 tabib asnan msajilon bil-niqaba atln an al-amal [500 Dentists Reistered with

the Syndicate Are Unemloyed], al-Arab al-Yawm, May 31, 2000, . 6. Jordan has one dentist erevery one thousand ersons, comared to the international averae o one er every ve thousand.

109. Onn Winckler, gul Monarchies as Rentier States: The Nationalization policies o the Labor

Force, in Joseh Kostiner, ed., Middle East Monarchies: The Challenge o Modernity (Boulder, CO:Lynne Rienner, 2000).

110. Le Troquer and al-Oudat, From Kuwait to Jordan; Lamia Radi, Les Palestiniens d Ko-weit en Jordanie [The palestinians o Kuwait in Jordan],Maghreb-Machrek, No. 144 (Aril-June1994); Van Hear, Limpact des rapatriements orcs vers la Jordanie et le Ymen. While the are-ate amount increased, the roortion o remittances remained lower than the rior, oil-boom level.

111. Tiltnes, poverty and welare in the palestinian reuee cams.112. In one survey, 40% o the youner eneration rom one villae is in debt. Lisa M. McCann,



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er an otion as a main source o income.113 The transort industry suered with the Iraqisanctions.114 Inormal work constituted almost hal o all emloyment, and was hihest

amon the lower and middle classes.115 Unemloyment increased sinicantly, to 28%

nationally, but was uneven. The least aected were Amman, Aqaba, and Maan.116

The result was the arrival o overty or almost one-third o the oulation. Es-timated in the mid-1980s by the World Bank to have been eectively eliminated, ov-

erty reached 20% in 1991,117 and 30% in 2000.118 A sinicant amount o overty was

comosed o the workin oor, about hal o which were in the states emloy.119 Most

[Contined rom previos page]patrilocal co-residential units (pCUs) in Al-Barha: dual household structure in a rovincial town

in Jordan,Jornal o Comparative Family Stdies (Special Isse: The Arab Family), Vol. 28, No. 2(1997).

113. There are indications that Jordanians bean to accet these reviously rejected tyes o work.

Jordanians orced into less restiious jobs,Jordan Times, February 24, 2000.114. Between the gul War and the Iraq War in 2003, most o Maans 10,000 drivers were idle,

and their income ell to one-th o its revious level. peter Feuilherade, Iraqi oil kees fowin,

Middle East International, Setember 22, 1995, . 9; Saad g. Hattar, Transort sector welcomes taxbreaks, ures more reorm in sector,Jordan Times, May 19-20, 2000.115. Musa Shteiwi, Class Structure and Inequality in the City o Amman, in Hannoyer and

Shami, eds.,Amman, Ville et Socit - The City and its Society, . 418.116. Economic Studies Unit, Unemloyment in Jordan - 1996: reliminary results & basic data

(Amman: Center or Strateic Studies, University o Jordan, 1997).

117. Ahsan Mansur, Social Asects o the Adjustment proram: Strenthenin o the Social

Saety Net, in Edouard Maciejewski and Ahsan Mansur, eds.,Jordan: Strategy or Adjstment andGrowth,Occasional paer #136 (Washinton, DC: International Monetary Fund, 1996), . 58.

118. Jordan: Economic predicament, Oxord Analytica Daily Brie, Setember 7, 1999; al-Wa-zani, Jordan. ESCWA also uts the ure at 30% or 1994. Van Aken, Develoment as a it. Radi

uts the ure at 40%. Radi, Les Palestiniens d Koweit en Jordanie. For the dierin measures o

overty, see Suyyah, poverty Manaement in Jordan.119. al-Wazani, Jordan; Musa Shteiwi, poverty Assessment o Jordan, aer resented at the

Note: The light bars are poor or borderline. The frst or are poor, the next two are border-line. The middle class begins at 350 JD per month.Sorce: Interview by athor with Jordanian statistician and social scientist, spring 2000;

Hashemite Kingdom o Jordan, Department o Statistics, Household Exenditure and In-come Survey 1997 (Amman: Department o Statistics, 1999), Table 3.14.

Distribution of Family Income

Jordanian Dinars/Month

% of Families



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oor amilies resided in the central, caital reion, not surrisinly since most o theoulace lived there. However, roortionally the caital had the lowest incidence o

overty; the hihest rates were in Maraq in the north, then Karak in the south, ollowed

by Balqa, Irbid, Taleh, and Maan. The same eneral distribution held or amilies

in absolute or abject overty.120

The line between the oor and the non-oor was ex-tremely thin. Income was also olarized: the to ten ercent o the oulation sent the

equivalent o the oorest 54%.121 These trends continued in the next ew years.122

Ocial er caita income went rom over $1,500 in the mid-1980s to under

$1,000 in 1990,123 decreasin to $850 in 1998.124 Income in the rural areas was less

than three-ourths its averae in urban areas.125 By some estimates, ood rices had in-creased almost 80% by 1992.126 From 1992 to 1997, rices doubled on ood, education,

rent, and healthcare. Heat and electricity increased by 150%.127 The consumer cost o

livin index went u by 73% overall between 1987 and 1993. Clothin costs were threetimes what they were in 1986.128 The ocial cost o livin index increased almost 60%

by 1992.129 prices on cereal roducts doubled between 1994 and 1998, which had an

infationary eect on most other ood items as well.130 Even these numbers underesti-mate the actual imact, since the index excludes imorts. Jordan is heavily deendent

[Contined rom previos page]Worksho on the Economy conducted under Dr. Mustaha Hamarneh, Amman, June 1999.

120. Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Plan or Economic and Social Development 1993-1997, . 43.121. Interviews by author with Jordanian statistician and social scientist, various dates, srin

2000. Calculated usin Deartment o Statistics Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Dirasa naaqat wadakhl al-sra 1997 [Household Exenditure and Income Survey 1997] (Amman: Deartment oStatistics, 1999), Table 3.14. On increasin income inequality in Jordan, see also Zaris Tzannatos,

What Accounts or Earnins Inequality in Jordan and How Can Labor policies Hel Reduce pov-erty? in Wassim Shahin and ghassan Dibeh, eds., Earnings Ineqality, unemployment, and Povertyin the Middle East and North Arica (Westort, CT: greenwood press, 2000), . 173.

122. Data is rom the most recent household exenditure survey, rom eldwork conducted in

2002-2003 by Middle East Marketin and Research Consultants.

123. Abla Amawi, Scrutinizin the nature o economic rowth: UNDps Human Develoment

Reort or 1996,Jordanies, No. 2 (December 1996), . 105.124. Abdul Salam gharaibeh, Nabulsi lauds monetary olicy, Jordan Times, Setember 18,

1999, . 8.

125. Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Household Exenditure and Income Survey 1997, Table

3.16. An account o one northern Jordanian villae determined that almost 70% o households oer-

ated on less than 200 JD ($280) er month, with an averae household size o over eiht members.

Mohammed Shunnaq, political and economic confict within extended kin rous and its eects onthe household in a north Jordanian villae, Jornal o Comparative Family Stdies (Special Isse:The Arab Family), Vol. 28, No. 2 (1997).

126. Mansur, Social Asects o the Adjustment proram, . 60.

127. Interviews by author with Jordanian statistician and social scientist, various dates, srin

2000. Calculated usin Deartment o Statistics Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Household Exen-

diture and Income Survey 1992 (Amman: Deartment o Statistics, 1993); Hashemite Kindom o

Jordan, Household Exenditure and Income Survey 1997.

128. Central Bank o Jordan, Thirtieth Annual Reort 1993 (Amman: Deartment o Research

and Studies, 1994), . 148.

129. Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Plan or Economic and Social Development 1993-1997, .22.

130. Central Bank o Jordan, Thirty Fith Annual Reort 1998 (Amman: Deartment o Re-search and Studies, 1999), . 134.


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on orein oods, imortin 60% o its needs.131 In 1997, educational ees increased, asdid rices on medical and health oods and services.132

Health care standards eroded since structural adjustment. Only slihtly over hal

o the oulation had health insurance, mainly ublic sector workers and the military.133

The rovision o health care was skewed, with most o the oulation in the oor pales-tinian areas outside the ormal healthcare system.134 The excluded oulation relied on

the rivate ay-as-you-o system, and this was where the bulk o money on health carewas sent, desite reresentin a much smaller ercentae o oulation served.135 The

oor received health care at low, or occasionally no cost, by alyin to the Ministry o

Health. Almost a third o a million eole had such health care cards in 1992.136 publichositals were last resorts, even or those insured throuh them, and reortedly Kin

Abdullah had to visit al-Bashir ublic hosital, which serves the entire kindoms oor,

three times in order or the elevator to et xed. The wait was tyically ve hours lon,months i the need was not urent, and manain the bureaucracy was tryin. Much o

the oulation avoided oin to the hosital unless imerative, resorted to home-based

remedies, or ound a way to urchase services throuh the rivate system.137 Durin the1989 Maan riots, ublic health centers were one o the tarets o attack.

Exenditures on essential oods absorbed a larer ortion o the amily budet.

Already in the initial ew years o structural adjustment, consumtion was cut by aroundone-quarter.138 Sendin on ood and drink, uel, and rent increased, while clothes,

urniture, and ersonal care declined. Most individuals had only one JD er month to

send on entertainment, a sum insucient to urchase a book or see a movie.139 In line

with the distribution o overty in the kindom, Maan and Karak in the south sent the

131. Suah Maayeh. WTO membershi called health hazard or harmaceuticals sector,JordanTimes, November 28, 1999.132. Central Bank o Jordan, Thirty Fith Annual Reort 1998, . 38.

133. Hanssen-Bauer, pedersen, and Tiltnes, eds.,Jordanian Society, . 189. Military insurance wasthe most common orm o health insurance, held by 25% o the oulation. government insurance

reresented another 23%. Insurance coverae was hih in rural areas, with a heavy roortion o mili-

tary insurance. By contrast, only 20% o cam residents had overnment insurance, and six ercent

had military insurance. Tiltnes, poverty and welare in the palestinian reuee cams.

134. Dejon, The Urban Context o Health Durin Economic Crisis, . 277. Only about ve er-

cent o the oulation was covered by UNRWA health care, 63% o cam reuees. Hanssen-Bauer,

pedersen, and Tiltnes, eds., Jordanian Society, . 190; Tiltnes, poverty and welare in the palestin-ian reuee cams. Doctors warned aainst rivatizin the ublic health care system, which would

urther skew the distribution o care. Muhammad Soayden, Niqaba al-atiba tahadhir min khaskhasaal-qita al-tibbi al-am [The Doctors Syndicate Warns aainst privatization o the general Medi-cine Sector], al-Arab al-Yawm, June 10, 2000.

135. World Bank, proosed projects on Jordan, www.worldbank.or/ics/id/jo39749.txt.

136. Mansur, Social Asects o the Adjustment proram, . 63.

137. Briitte Curmi, Les Associations de Bienaisance Amman: le Jabal Achrafyyeh [Chari-table Associations in Amman: The Jabal Achrayyeh], in Hannoyer and Shami, eds., Amman, Villeet Socit - The City and its Society; Hana Jaber, The imact o structural adjustment on womensemloyment and urban households,Jordanies, No. 4 (December 1997). Interviews by author withJordanian social scientist, various dates 1999-2000.

138. Tiltnes, poverty and welare in the palestinian reuee cams.

139. Interviews by author with Jordanian statistician and social scientist, various dates, srin 2000.

Calculated rom Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Household Exenditure and Income Survey 1997,Tables 4.9, 4.12.


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hihest roortion o income on ood and drink, over 55%.140 Families in Amman, oall income rous, sent the least on these necessities nationwide.

Newsaers commented on the lack o eective demand in the marketlace, the

sudden aearance and fourishin o everythin or a dinar stores, and the new com-

mon siht o bears on the streets o the caital.141

Household debt to riends, amily,and the local rocer increased.142 poorer households delayed ayin water and elec-

tricity bills, and moved out o titled roerty and into squatter settlements to save onexenses.143 Not only did much o the lower classes sto eatin meat but they now ate

chicken only rarely.144

THE STATES RESPONSE

In an attemt to rotect the vulnerable oulation rom the eects o structural

adjustment, secialized welare rorams were created to taret the oor. The Family

Income Sulement roram rovided cash sulements to qualied amilies, relac-in the ormer system o ood couons that started in 1990.145 Around one and a quarter

JD was allocated to the household head in amilies earnin less than 500 JD er month.The money was automatically added to state emloyees aychecks; others icked it

u at banks.146 The National Aid Fund rovided monthly cash ayments to qualied

amilies, enerally the unemloyable oor. In 1998, 50,000 amilies beneted. Fami-lies received about 25 JD er month, risin to a maximum o 50 JD or extra amily

members.147 The Zakat Fund, run by the overnment but nanced rivately, rovided

reular, small amounts o aid to 3,000 households, an averae o eiht JD each.148

Around 300,000 eole received hel rom one o these overnment rorams or rom

rivate, NgO charities at the end o the 1990s.

149

These rorams have been viewed

140. In this reort the overty line was set at less than one JD er day, 184 JD or the averae am-

ily o 6.2 er month. Twenty-eiht ercent o the oulation was below this line.

141. O. Al Farawati, Dinar shos hel alleviate stress o touh economy,Jordan Times, Febru-ary 24, 2000; Rami Khouri, So much to buy, so little to buy it with, The Globe and Mail, Aril 27,2000. For the Ramadan holiday in 2000, ew could even aord the traditional slauhterin o a shee.

Whereas commonly in extended amilies at least one member would be able to handle the exense,

that year many middle class amilies had no one who could do so.

142. Dejon and Tell, Economic Crisis and the Labour Market, . 214.

143. Dejon, The Urban Context o Health Durin Economic Crisis; Omar Muni Razzaz, Law,

urban land tenure, and roerty disutes in contested settlements: The case o Jordan (Unublishedph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1991).

144.Jordan Times, December 12, 1999; Jaber, The imact o structural adjustment, . 160-1.145. Interview by author with Economic Director o the Secretary general Oce, Ministry o

Suly. All anti-overty and social measures were based on the amily and amily income levels, not

on the individual.

146. Andoni and Schwedler, Bread Riots in Jordan, . 41.

147. Central Bank o Jordan, Thirty Fith Annual Reort 1998, . 41; Mansur, Social Asects

o the Adjustment proram, . 63; Suyyah, poverty Manaement in Jordan.

148. Hashemite Kindom o Jordan, Plan or Economic and Social Development 1993-1997, .66; Mansur, Social Asects o the Adjustment proram, . 63.

149. Shteiwi, poverty Assessment o Jordan, . 21; Mustaa Hamarneh, al-urdn [Jordan],

Saad al-Deen Ibrahim, ed., Dirasat mashr al-mjtam al-madani wa al-tahawwl al-dimqrati fal-watan al-arabi [Stdies in the Civil Society Project and the Democratic Transormation o the[Contined on next page]


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as ineective and unable to either reach all the oor, articularly in rural areas, or torovide adequate assistance to those they do reach.150

Other aid measures were indirect. Micro-nancin o rivate initiatives was a hot

trend, romoted by international institutions as one way to alleviate overty. Several

rorams attemted to rovide develomental aid, esecially or womens enterris-es.151 The Social productivity proram was the main one. These included the National

Aid Fund, the Small and Micro Enterrises Develoment proram, the Trainin andEmloyment Suort proram, and the Community Inrastructure Develoment pro-

ram.152 The Develoment and Emloyment Fund lent money or 500 rojects in 1993,

the bulk o which were in the caitals service sector.153 However, these rorams havebeen viewed as ineective and unable to reach either all the oor, articularly in rural

areas, or to rovide adequate assistance to those they do reach.154 Further, these ro-

rams let the middle classes without social security.The overnment inned its economic hoes on orein investment. Duties on

imorts declined, scheduled to reach 30% by 2010 to meet Euroean Union and World

Trade Oranization requirements.155 Economic laws were hastily rewritten in time oraccession to the WTO in the winter o 1999-2000.156 Qualied trade zones were set u

to encourae orein investment, with duty-ree entrance into the United States market

as enticement. The oal was olitical, to encourae joint ventures with Israel; invest-ment rom both Israel and Jordan was needed to receive this duty-ree exort status.157

Located in the rural areas o the northern and southern reions o the country, the com-

anies in the rouhly 12 industrial zones were mostly East Asian owned. Some wer

268 Baylouny Militarizing Welfare Neoliberalism

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