The Fortress State: Extreme Militarization in Jordan

Abstract Jordan is one of the most militarized states in the world. Why? Traditional explanations hold that the kingdom’s bloated armed forces and security institutions reflect authoritarian dynamics and frequent regional wars. However, such popular arguments falter. Jordan has not been a primary combatant to any major conflict for a half-century, and it is no more authoritarian than other Arab autocracies. This essay instead suggests that militarization begets militarization. In political terms, Jordan’s coercive apparatus underpins the tribal coalitional bargain that sustains the Hashemite monarchy. It also paradoxically breeds the very domestic insecurity that it purports to prevent. By exhausting the economy, extreme militarization has spawned public unrest spurred by high unemployment and fiscal crises. And by necessitating a pro-Western foreign policy, it has attracted regional terrorism and triggered further domestic dissent. In sum, Jordanian militarization persists not from exogenous structural forces, but the deliberate choices of its political architects.