One of my all-time favorites. Inspired me for the past two years, I thought I should share this now.

King Talal of Jordan is one of the personalities that always alluded to my interest; with little information available on the 11-month-reigning king, the figure remains mysterious on multiple levels. I recently came across a very interesting book, entitled “From Abdullah to Hussein: Jordan in Transition”, a book by Robert Barry Satloff (@Amazon). A chapter within the book discusses the short reign of King Talal, offers much more details on the historical background of the rewriting of the Jordanian constitution, and presents a much more comprehensive insight on the king’s history than I have seen before.

A limited preview can be seen on Google books here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=3-JWbAkLVbEC&pg=PA42&dq=King+Talal&cd=8#v=onepage&q=King%20Talal&f=false

I would disagree with the cynicism surrounding the constitution; though its technically right. The book highlights that Jordan did not become a democracy, but rather a pseudodemocracy. However, given current context, it seems that people on the outside (and sometimes the inside as well) mistake Jordan for a dictatorship or an authoritarian-ship; pseudodemocracy as a description shows: an element of democracy does at least exist. My view of Jordanian democracy is closer to “democracy-in-transit”, a system that is largely flawed technically, but practically – and for the time being only – generates freedoms.

King Abdullah issued a royal decree a while ago allowing the four months deadline of the early elections to be exceeded. The King also appointed Sameer al-Rifai as the next prime minister of the country. In his appointment, the King called for transparency, efficiency, continued economic reforms, and what not. More central to our issue is the parliament? Was my earlier point about democracy in Jordan completely invalidated by postponing election date? I don’t think so. More time for election means that many of the laws that were “stuck” in the cycle of parliamentary corruption and inefficiency will be passed quickly, and in such an economically curcial time, we’ll see higher efficiency in the months to come. I’d also stress that, in my own view, what is going on is very temporary, indeed, in the text of the King’s appointment to Mr. Rifai, Alghad quotes:

وقال جلالته إن الانتخابات البرلمانية المقبلة “يجب أن لا يتأخر إجراؤها عن الربع الأخير من العام المقبل، حاثا الحكومة الجديدة على “اتخاذ جميع الخطوات اللازمة، بما في ذلك تعديل قانون الانتخاب وتحسين جميع إجراءات العملية الانتخابية، لضمان أن تكون الانتخابات القادمة نقلة نوعية في مسيرتنا التطويرية التحديثية بحيث يتمكن كل الأردنيين من ممارسة حقهم في الانتخاب والترشح وتأدية واجبهم في انتخاب مجلس نيابي قادر على ممارسة دوره الدستوري في الرقابة والتشريع”.

Translated:

His majesty also stated that the upcoming parliamentary elections “must be carried out no later than the final quarter of next year”, and insisted that the new government must “take all proper measures, including amending election law and improving all procedures involved in the electoral process, to guarantee that the upcoming elections are a quantum leap in our journey of development and reform, in which all Jordanians are able to practice their rights in voting, nomination, and performing their civil duty of electing a capable senate, to perform its constitutional duty of regulation and legislation.”

I approve. For those who don’t, just give the situation the benefit of the doubt, and we’ll see where it takes us. I’ll put my money on a more effective electoral law and a more content population, before 2011.