Globalization and the political economy of reform in Jordan (1989-2002)

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2006
Sütalan, Zeynep
Economic reform packages became important for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by the 1980s. Mainly as a result of the growing external debt, together with the regional stagnation that began after the second oil shock in the early 1980s, most of the MENA countries were affected by economic crisis. As a response to the economic crises, which also mostly resulted in regime legitimacy crises, many MENA countries initiated economic liberalization programs in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. In some of the Middle Eastern states, these economic liberalization processes were followed or accompanied by political liberalization policies. This thesis analyzes the political economy of reform in Jordan between 1989-2002 with reference to globalization. This thesis chooses Jordan as a case study since Jordan has been regarded as a successful case in implementing economic reforms envisaged in the Washington Consensus by the IMF and World Bank, and a country holding prospects for democracy. In this respect, this study seeks to find out why and how economic liberalization reforms were implemented in Jordan. In addition to that, this thesis displays how domestic and external factors affected both the rationale behind and the implementation of economic and political reforms in the country. The basic conclusion of this thesis is that regime survival is the main concern for the economic and political liberalization processes in Jordan.

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Citation Formats
Z. Sütalan, “Globalization and the political economy of reform in Jordan (1989-2002),” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2006.