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Nicolas Pelham

Nicolas Pelham is The Economist ’s correspondent in Jerusalem and a writer on Arab affairs for the New York Review of Books . From 2005 to 2010 he was the Israel/Palestine senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, where he extensively covered the rise of national-religious movements. He...
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Hashemite kings by Stopping to eat the roses

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King Abdullah of Jordan and the Arab Spring

Nicolas Pelham , 21 December 2011

Long the region’s unlikely survivor, the Hashemite dynasty of Jordan has thus far survived the Arab winds of change sweeping the Middle East, dealing with protests remarkably gently in comparison to its harsher neighbours. King Abdullah II has signalled his support for some of the demands of Jordanians, even touting the eventual realisation of a constitutional monarchy. But he has failed to match his words with actions, resisting demands for Parliament, not the king, to choose the prime minister. He has resorted to pay-offs and appointments to buy off dissent among the East Bank tribes who staff his security forces and comprise the Hashemites’ traditional support base. And he has toyed with reversing a decade of exclusion of Islamist groups, in which West Bankers predominate. This article looks at the sustainability of his policies as the monarchy slips deeper into debt, the protests spread countrywide and the demands rise to the extent that some commentators question the durability of the king himself.