The new policy paper released by the Social Democratic Party on decentralization and municipalities represents a significant and exemplary model of the role and function expected from political parties in the current political landscape—especially considering the crucial role that municipalities play in enhancing and developing partisan life, and in creating a continuous connection with their social base and grassroots supporters.
The fundamental problem facing most political parties in Jordan lies in their weak social base. Unlike many European parties that emerged from social constituencies to represent their economic, political, or cultural interests within the political system, the majority of Jordanian partie relationship crisis with the social base. They struggle to build and consolidate a genuine link with the social segments they are supposed to represent.
This has resulted in what we previously described (in the Politics and Society Institute’s book On the Threshold of Transformation: Jordanian Parties and Political Modernization) as the inverted pyramid phenomenon: an overconcentration of political figures at the leadership level, weak internal party structures and cadres, and an almost complete absence of a genuine grassroots foundation.
Hence the importance of next year’s municipal elections and, even more importantly, the drafting of the amended Local Administration Law. Municipalities form the essential social and popular foundation for political parties; they act as a bridge between party platforms and society, connecting them to people’s daily and practical concerns across all governorates.
Such a law should mark a significant step - indeed a leap- forward in political, administrative, and even economic reform. The Local Administration Law constitutes the framework governing the relationship between the central government and the governorates, particularly at a time when tensions have escalated between the center and the periphery in recent years. Feelings of inequality, lack of development, and sluggish local economies have intensified in many local communities.
It is in the interest of the state, the government, and political parties alike that the new amended law genuinely reflects a commitment to political modernization—one that begins with municipalities—and that it be meaningfully linked to administrative reform and economic development. The Social Democratic Party’s paper courageously tackled these contentious issues, while few other parties showed similar engagement, as if the matter did not concern them, even though this very law could become a driving factor in revitalizing partisan life and redefining the role of political parties in the coming phase.
The paper presented a set of key findings and recommendations concerning the proposed amendments to the new law, which the author of these lines fully agrees with and strongly supports. The paper called for the abolition of governorate councils, keeping only municipalities. These councils, it argued, have failed to develop coherent developmental visions or to build effective bridges between local administration and the legislative and executive authorities. Instead, they fell into rivalry with parliament and municipalities, struggling to define their role—a failure for which successive governments also bear responsibility, having failed to clearly frame and institutionalize that role.
Moreover, the paper urged the adoption of an electoral system that strengthens programmatic politics and mirrors the parliamentary election law by integrating political parties more meaningfully into municipal elections. This would gradually shift the electoral consciousness toward considering programmatic, service-oriented, and developmental dimensions, enabling political parties to engage directly with local communities and present realistic, rather than abstract, visions.
The paper also advocated for reviving the Development Regions Project—a strategic initiative that would, for instance, treat the Jordan Valley and its associated municipalities as a developmental region, with a clear strategic vision for leveraging resources, expanding economic opportunities, and addressing unemployment and other challenges within a framework that recognizes the economic, service, and developmental specificities of each region.
We hope other parties will follow suit by developing their own visions and policy alternatives—rooted in practical, realistic, and ideological-programmatic perspectives. In this regard, it is worth highlighting the recent publication by the Politics and Society Institute titled From Dialogue to Practice: Pathways of Policy Toward a Jordanian Democracy, which captures important lessons from the Norwegian experience in strengthening political party development.
The new policy paper released by the Social Democratic Party on decentralization and municipalities represents a significant and exemplary model of the role and function expected from political parties in the current political landscape—especially considering the crucial role that municipalities play in enhancing and developing partisan life, and in creating a continuous connection with their social base and grassroots supporters.
The fundamental problem facing most political parties in Jordan lies in their weak social base. Unlike many European parties that emerged from social constituencies to represent their economic, political, or cultural interests within the political system, the majority of Jordanian partie relationship crisis with the social base. They struggle to build and consolidate a genuine link with the social segments they are supposed to represent.
This has resulted in what we previously described (in the Politics and Society Institute’s book On the Threshold of Transformation: Jordanian Parties and Political Modernization) as the inverted pyramid phenomenon: an overconcentration of political figures at the leadership level, weak internal party structures and cadres, and an almost complete absence of a genuine grassroots foundation.
Hence the importance of next year’s municipal elections and, even more importantly, the drafting of the amended Local Administration Law. Municipalities form the essential social and popular foundation for political parties; they act as a bridge between party platforms and society, connecting them to people’s daily and practical concerns across all governorates.
Such a law should mark a significant step - indeed a leap- forward in political, administrative, and even economic reform. The Local Administration Law constitutes the framework governing the relationship between the central government and the governorates, particularly at a time when tensions have escalated between the center and the periphery in recent years. Feelings of inequality, lack of development, and sluggish local economies have intensified in many local communities.
It is in the interest of the state, the government, and political parties alike that the new amended law genuinely reflects a commitment to political modernization—one that begins with municipalities—and that it be meaningfully linked to administrative reform and economic development. The Social Democratic Party’s paper courageously tackled these contentious issues, while few other parties showed similar engagement, as if the matter did not concern them, even though this very law could become a driving factor in revitalizing partisan life and redefining the role of political parties in the coming phase.
The paper presented a set of key findings and recommendations concerning the proposed amendments to the new law, which the author of these lines fully agrees with and strongly supports. The paper called for the abolition of governorate councils, keeping only municipalities. These councils, it argued, have failed to develop coherent developmental visions or to build effective bridges between local administration and the legislative and executive authorities. Instead, they fell into rivalry with parliament and municipalities, struggling to define their role—a failure for which successive governments also bear responsibility, having failed to clearly frame and institutionalize that role.
Moreover, the paper urged the adoption of an electoral system that strengthens programmatic politics and mirrors the parliamentary election law by integrating political parties more meaningfully into municipal elections. This would gradually shift the electoral consciousness toward considering programmatic, service-oriented, and developmental dimensions, enabling political parties to engage directly with local communities and present realistic, rather than abstract, visions.
The paper also advocated for reviving the Development Regions Project—a strategic initiative that would, for instance, treat the Jordan Valley and its associated municipalities as a developmental region, with a clear strategic vision for leveraging resources, expanding economic opportunities, and addressing unemployment and other challenges within a framework that recognizes the economic, service, and developmental specificities of each region.
We hope other parties will follow suit by developing their own visions and policy alternatives—rooted in practical, realistic, and ideological-programmatic perspectives. In this regard, it is worth highlighting the recent publication by the Politics and Society Institute titled From Dialogue to Practice: Pathways of Policy Toward a Jordanian Democracy, which captures important lessons from the Norwegian experience in strengthening political party development.
The new policy paper released by the Social Democratic Party on decentralization and municipalities represents a significant and exemplary model of the role and function expected from political parties in the current political landscape—especially considering the crucial role that municipalities play in enhancing and developing partisan life, and in creating a continuous connection with their social base and grassroots supporters.
The fundamental problem facing most political parties in Jordan lies in their weak social base. Unlike many European parties that emerged from social constituencies to represent their economic, political, or cultural interests within the political system, the majority of Jordanian partie relationship crisis with the social base. They struggle to build and consolidate a genuine link with the social segments they are supposed to represent.
This has resulted in what we previously described (in the Politics and Society Institute’s book On the Threshold of Transformation: Jordanian Parties and Political Modernization) as the inverted pyramid phenomenon: an overconcentration of political figures at the leadership level, weak internal party structures and cadres, and an almost complete absence of a genuine grassroots foundation.
Hence the importance of next year’s municipal elections and, even more importantly, the drafting of the amended Local Administration Law. Municipalities form the essential social and popular foundation for political parties; they act as a bridge between party platforms and society, connecting them to people’s daily and practical concerns across all governorates.
Such a law should mark a significant step - indeed a leap- forward in political, administrative, and even economic reform. The Local Administration Law constitutes the framework governing the relationship between the central government and the governorates, particularly at a time when tensions have escalated between the center and the periphery in recent years. Feelings of inequality, lack of development, and sluggish local economies have intensified in many local communities.
It is in the interest of the state, the government, and political parties alike that the new amended law genuinely reflects a commitment to political modernization—one that begins with municipalities—and that it be meaningfully linked to administrative reform and economic development. The Social Democratic Party’s paper courageously tackled these contentious issues, while few other parties showed similar engagement, as if the matter did not concern them, even though this very law could become a driving factor in revitalizing partisan life and redefining the role of political parties in the coming phase.
The paper presented a set of key findings and recommendations concerning the proposed amendments to the new law, which the author of these lines fully agrees with and strongly supports. The paper called for the abolition of governorate councils, keeping only municipalities. These councils, it argued, have failed to develop coherent developmental visions or to build effective bridges between local administration and the legislative and executive authorities. Instead, they fell into rivalry with parliament and municipalities, struggling to define their role—a failure for which successive governments also bear responsibility, having failed to clearly frame and institutionalize that role.
Moreover, the paper urged the adoption of an electoral system that strengthens programmatic politics and mirrors the parliamentary election law by integrating political parties more meaningfully into municipal elections. This would gradually shift the electoral consciousness toward considering programmatic, service-oriented, and developmental dimensions, enabling political parties to engage directly with local communities and present realistic, rather than abstract, visions.
The paper also advocated for reviving the Development Regions Project—a strategic initiative that would, for instance, treat the Jordan Valley and its associated municipalities as a developmental region, with a clear strategic vision for leveraging resources, expanding economic opportunities, and addressing unemployment and other challenges within a framework that recognizes the economic, service, and developmental specificities of each region.
We hope other parties will follow suit by developing their own visions and policy alternatives—rooted in practical, realistic, and ideological-programmatic perspectives. In this regard, it is worth highlighting the recent publication by the Politics and Society Institute titled From Dialogue to Practice: Pathways of Policy Toward a Jordanian Democracy, which captures important lessons from the Norwegian experience in strengthening political party development.
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