Anti-Austerity Protests Rattle Jordan, Reverberating Across the Middle East

Anti-Austerity Protests Rattle Jordan, Reverberating Across the Middle East
Protesters gather outside the prime minister’s office in Amman, Jordan, June 6, 2018 (AP photo by Raad al-Adayleh).

When people take to the streets to protest high prices and tax increases, their message doesn’t usually resonate beyond their country’s borders. But when the protests erupt in a country like Jordan, in the heart of the Middle East, they are an uncomfortable reminder to the region, and the world, of the kingdom’s vulnerability and its importance in preserving regional stability.

The protests started last week in Amman, and they quickly took on a life of their own, expanding well beyond the capital and drawing support from across society—a sign that their objective of drawing attention to economic hardships resonated deeply among Jordanians. Demonstrators focused primarily on a just-introduced draft law that raises taxes, part of an effort to follow the direction of the International Monetary Fund, which has loaned money to Jordan to keep its listing economy afloat. The demonstrations were called by a wide-ranging collection of professional organizations and joined by student groups. They brought out thousands of middle-class Jordanians in the night hours after the Ramadan fast, who demanded that the government scrap the austerity plans, despite a crushing debt load that is swallowing increasingly large chunks of the national budget.

The massive crowds, some of the largest in recent memory in Jordan, are a sudden reminder of the limits of King Abdullah’s power and the simmering challenges to the country’s stability. Over the years, the Hashemite kingdom has contended with demands for democratization, ideological extremism, and demographic challenges from both Jordan’s large Palestinian population and the recent influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. But the economy has been Jordan’s most persistent weakness.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review