Jordan and the Arab Uprisings: Regime Survival and Politics Beyond the State
Jordan and the Arab Uprisings: Regime Survival and Politics Beyond the State
复制标题
约旦和阿拉伯起义：政权生存和超越国家的政治
作者：
L. Priya
约旦是一个被帝国列强雕刻的小国，周围环绕着一个幅员辽阔但不稳定的邻国。在所有的混乱之中，由于经济紧张、跨境战争以及难民康复的压力，约旦表面上看起来很稳定，但实际上并不持久。为了实现强有力的稳定，约旦不断努力实行频繁的改革、积极的外交和灵活的外交政策。当“阿拉伯之春”到来时，稳定是约旦最关心的问题，它相信“软安全”或最低限度的强制作为经验法则，正如约旦前外长马万·穆阿舍尔（Marwan Muasher，2014）所反映的那样，他将阿拉伯起义称为“第二次阿拉伯觉醒”。约旦善于处理混乱，与其他国家不同，约旦在阿拉伯起义中一帆风顺，是从事中东政治研究的学者的一个案例研究。柯蒂斯·R·瑞安 (Curtis R. Ryan) 的著作《约旦与阿拉伯起义：政权生存与超越国家的政治》是对这一主题的及时而全面的研究，对于那些对约旦政治感兴趣的人来说很有价值。瑞安探讨了约旦在阿拉伯起义期间的经历，并在更广泛的国内、区域和时间背景下审视了这些事件。他评估了约旦对阿拉伯起义的反应，同时讨论了约旦的过去和现在，并展望了未来的前景。在讨论约旦政治和君主制对阿拉伯起义的反应时，瑞安认为约旦已经掌握了应付和生存的艺术。由于国内支持和建立联盟，每位君主都得以幸存（第 16 页）。作者在强调约旦的独特案例时表示，“混合政权”或“自由化独裁政权”等术语最适合它（第 15 页）。 “阿拉伯之春”以零散的形式到达约旦，未能取得相当大的声势。有一些针对问题的抗议活动，由一小群人组织，他们在可预测的车道上游行并高喊口号几个小时，然后在一周后分散开会。约旦-以色列天然气交易、拯救贝尔克什森林和约旦反核工厂等问题被用来动员人们（第66页）。抗议者包括部落东岸青年活动人士（HIRAK）和隶属于穆斯林兄弟会的伊斯兰示威者。 HIRAK 由精通社交媒体、属于不同政治意识形态的年轻人组成，他们寻求约旦的经济和政治变革，利用爱国符号来吸引群众，甚至质疑王室及其成员（第 72 页）。另一方面，《战略分析》，2019 年卷。 43，第 5 期，441–443，https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2019.1647660
Carved by imperial powers, Jordan is a small state surrounded by a large but unstable neighbourhood. Among all the chaos, Jordan offers a semblance of stability sans durability owing to a strained economy, war across borders and the pressure of rehabilitating refugees. In a quest to have robust stability, Jordan has been constantly making efforts to embrace frequent rounds of reforms, active diplomacy and a flexible foreign policy. Stability was Jordan’s major concern, when the Arab Spring reached its doorstep and it believed in ‘soft security’ or minimal coercion as a thumb rule as reflected by Marwan Muasher (2014), The former Foreign Minister of Jordan who referred to the Arab uprising as ‘Second Arab Awakening.’ Apt in handling chaos, Jordan sailed through the Arab uprising unlike other countries and is a case study for scholars engaged in the study of Middle East politics. Curtis R. Ryan’s book Jordan and the Arab Uprisings: Regime Survival and Politics Beyond the State is a timely and comprehensive study on the subject and is valuable for those interested in Jordanian politics. Ryan explores Jordan’s experience during Arab uprisings and examines the events in a broader domestic, regional and temporal context. He evaluates Jordan’s response to the Arab uprising while discussing its past and present, and envisages its prospects about the future. While discussing Jordanian politics and the monarchy’s response to the Arab uprisings, Ryan argues that Jordan has mastered the fine art of muddling through and surviving; and each monarch has survived owing to domestic support and building coalitions (p. 16). Emphasizing on the unique case of Jordan, the author says that terms like ‘hybrid regime’ or ‘liberalizing autocracies’ fit it the best (p. 15). The Arab Spring reached Jordan in a fragmented form and could not achieve considerable momentum. There were issue-based protests, organized by small groups of people marching on predictable lanes and chanting for hours before dispersing to meet a week later. Issues such as the Jordan-Israel gas deal, Save Berqesh forest and anti-nuclear plants in Jordan were used to mobilize people (p.66). The protestors comprised tribal East Bank Youth activists (HIRAK) and the Islamist demonstrators affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood. HIRAK comprised social media-savvy youth belonging to diverse political ideologies, looking for economic as well as political change in Jordan, using patriotic symbols to attract the masses and even questioning the royal family and its members (p.72). On the other hand, Strategic Analysis, 2019 Vol. 43, No. 5, 441–443, https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2019.1647660