Arab Spring and the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood Organization

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.