Sameer Hamdan – Budapest

Jordan’s challenge is not that its political parties are weak, the deeper challenge is that, for decades, the state has evolved without political parties becoming an indispensable pillar of its institutional order, a paradox that deserves careful reflection, states do not become vulnerable because a party performs poorly or loses an election, they become vulnerable when society concludes that politics can function without credible political institutions, because once that happens legitimacy begins to rest on individuals rather than institutions, governance becomes defined by those who hold public office rather than by the rules that shape and restrain political power, and the real question is no longer how political parties can succeed, but how Jordan can make them an essential source of state strength rather than a symbolic feature of its political system.

Jordanians have never rejected political parties simply because they are political parties, their skepticism reflects a far more practical judgment, most parties have failed to demonstrate that they can improve everyday life, the economy has changed, higher education has expanded, labor markets have become more demanding, and regional pressures have intensified, yet political discourse has too often lagged behind these transformations, when citizens do not see political parties improving education, attracting investment, modernizing public administration, or advancing the public interest, they naturally regard them as platforms for political activity rather than institutions that contribute to national development.

This is why the recent wave of party mergers, together with the entry of respected national and parliamentary figures, should be viewed as the beginning of a far more demanding test rather than the culmination of political reform, mergers may create momentum, and prominent personalities may attract public attention, but neither can substitute for a coherent political vision, enduring public trust is built on ideas rather than organizational structures, citizens do not judge political parties by the size of their membership, but by their ability to transform challenges into practical solutions, solutions into effective public policy, and public policy into tangible results that improve people’s lives, political legitimacy is earned in society, not manufactured inside party headquarters.

Jordan has entered a fundamentally new stage of its national development, the defining challenges are no longer political alone, they are increasingly economic, technological, and administrative, investment, water security, energy resilience, artificial intelligence, education, and productivity will determine the country’s long-term competitiveness and stability, these challenges cannot be managed through reactive politics or short-term calculations, they require institutions capable of generating ideas before crises emerge, evaluating alternatives before decisions are made, and planning for the next decade rather than the next electoral cycle, this is where political parties acquire their true strategic purpose, they are more than electoral organizations, they are institutions that generate public policy, cultivate future leadership, and connect society’s aspirations with the state’s long-term priorities.

The greatest danger, however, is that political parties may reproduce the very political culture they were created to reform, if they become centered on personalities rather than programs, loyalty rather than merit, or conformity rather than intellectual competition, very little will have changed beyond appearances, reform that merely replaces familiar faces while preserving inherited political habits cannot produce genuine institutional renewal, successful states are not built by institutions that imitate the past, they are built by institutions capable of moving beyond it.

The expectations of Jordanian citizens are, in reality, clearer than many political elites assume, people are not looking for parties that simply claim to speak on their behalf, they want parties that hold themselves accountable before demanding accountability from others, they expect credible strategies that create jobs, improve education, attract investment, simplify public administration, and safeguard public resources, citizens place their trust not in those who merely describe national challenges, but in those who present measurable solutions and accept responsibility for delivering them.

In the years ahead, Jordan’s political landscape is likely to undergo a natural process of democratic selection driven less by legislation than by society itself, parties capable of building durable institutions, attracting talent, and producing credible policy solutions will establish lasting relevance, those that depend primarily on electoral cycles or the prominence of individual personalities will gradually lose their place, the defining question will no longer be how many political parties survive, but which of them become institutions that the state cannot function effectively without.

Ultimately, a political party will not succeed simply because it becomes larger or attracts more prominent personalities, it will succeed only when Jordanians become convinced that its presence strengthens the state’s capacity to think strategically, distribute opportunities more fairly, manage public resources more effectively, and deepen democratic accountability, when that moment arrives, political parties will no longer have to search for society’s trust, society will seek them out, having recognized that strong states are defined not by the number of parties they contain, but by their ability to transform politics into institutions, institutions into effective public policy, public policy into public confidence, and public confidence into a stronger future for the nation.