TITLE:
Arab Spring and the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood Organization
AUTHORS:
Nigar Nese Kemiksiz
KEYWORDS:
Jordan, Muslim Brotherhood Organization, Hashemite Monarchy, Arab Spring, Hamas
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Political Science,
Vol.12 No.2,
February
22,
2022
ABSTRACT: This article deals with the relations between the
Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood Organization (MBO) and the Jordanian regime during
and after the Arab Spring and aims to reveal how the Arab Spring affected the
relations. That the MBO, performing legal activities in Jordan since 1945, was
terminated upon the judicial decision in July 2020 constituted great importance
due to eliminating the activities of the most powerful opposing organization in
the country. The Arab Spring became a milestone in the relations between
the Jordanian MBO and the Hashemite Monarchy. It is thought that the
Jordanian MBO expected to form a Muslim Brotherhood line in the region
exhibited a competitive attitude against the regime and aimed to weaken
the legitimacy of the regime. However, the fact that the Arab Spring was not
progressed in an expected way, particularly the fact the Egyptian MBO was
overthrown by the military coup, constituted a significant impact on the
Jordanian MBO, as it did to all Muslim Brotherhood Organizations. After the
military coup, the renewed regional balance provided the proper conditions, so
that the Jordanian regime was able to marginalize the MBO. Within this scope,
the Jordanian regime adopted an action that was executed over time and the
radical wing of the organization, regarded as a supporter of Hamas, was
disbanded. The article concludes that the Arab Spring consolidated the concept
of strengthening the Jordanian identity of the state and ensured the
Jordanianization of the MBO just like in the other critical processes in the
recent past of Jordan.