: According to the Habbib book, King Hussein
: did make proclamations to that effect in his
: last days.
Do you know what exactly were these proclamations and how were they meant to make the monarchy more constitutional?
: To me the succession issue raises a key
: theory of my own. I do not believe that
: genuine constitutional monarchy is possible
: unless the succession is completely
: algorithmic. Any leeway for a monarch or
: family conclave to choose the successor
: makes the position a political one and
: therefore incapable of being above politics
: as a constitutional monarch needs to be.
This is why I am sceptical about any last minute attempts at modernising the constitution by King Hussein. The manner in which the succession was decided was, in my view, a shambles that only created more uncertainty and potential future conflict between members of his own family. KH simply used his personal prerogative under the terms of the old constitution to amend the succession according to his personal whim and he even attempted to decide the course of future successions by attempting to impose a successor to his successor. The late king had been in office for almost half a century and had all that time to decide on and work out an orderly and more constitutional method of succession but, in the end, it came down to his ever changing personal whims. It is probably a miracle that it did not all blow up in everyone's faces and is a tribute to the sense of discipline and loyalty within the ruling family that prevented anything like that occurring.
:
: It's my impression that the current king
: lacks something of his father's charm and
: charisma. He is very much a military-minded
: man who tends to think in immediate,
: no-nonsense solutions without always taking
: the time to be as diplomatic and tactful
: about it as his father was. With King
: Abdullah, what you see is what you get and
: his bluntness doesn't always play too well
: with tribal leaders and Palestinian
: intellectuals who like to be flattered and
: seduced in the way that King Hussein would
: probably have engaged them. It's a little
:
: This may also have to do with the fact that
: he is not only a military man, but seems to
: be culturally as well as linguistically more
: attuned to the ways of his mother's homeland
: than his own.
Well, if that's the case, his cultural affinity for his mother's country does not seem to extend to rushing to copy its political system. In the last analysis, whatever his exterior trappings, the king would appear to be very much a Hashemite in his approach to the way he rules his kingdom. I think he takes his father as his model in that respect but lacks something of the personal charm that King Hussein used to win over potential ememies.
: ironic that he and his wife take so much
: flak from critics because their married and
: home life seems to be exemplary compared to
: that of his predecessors. It is notable that
: the present king of Jordan is the only one
: so far to have remained steadfastly loyal to
: one wife which cannot be said for most of
: the rest of his family including his
: brothers and sisters. In his domestic
: set-up, the current king is certainly not a
: typical Hashemite and that may also be one
: of the things that gets up certain people's
: noses.
:
: Was King Talal known to be unfaithful to his
: queen? In any event, you may be right that
: this makes the present King seem strange to
: some of his compatriots, but I really have
: no idea. Unlike in Britain, I've never
: heard anything about Arab monarchs being
: expected to exemplify any sort of ideal of
: family life.
I haven't heard of any other women in King Talal's life but his relationship with his wife, Queen Zein was certainly strained largely owing to the mental illness which forced him to abdicate in favour of his eldest son, Hussein. I read that Queen Zein was largely instrumental in forcing the abdication and reported physical abuse by her husband as evidence of his mental unsuitability. King Talal does not seem to have been popular with many people including his own father who apparently once considered (but did not act) replacing him as his successor with a more favoured younger son. I believe, King Talal and Queen Zein lived separate lives after his abdication so their home life does not seem to have been much of a happy one.
: True, but that's what I mean. In the long
: term, I don't see how the long term
: stability of the regime can be assured
: unless there is a move to some of form of
: liberal, parliamentary democracy. The
: problem is, how to get there without jumping
: the gun as in Egypt, etc., and ending up
: with Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood, etc.,
: in control before strong liberal
: institutions have been established.
That is indeed the problem for a lot of the more open Arab societies and not just Jordan. It explains how difficult it must be for someone like King Abdullah to know how quickly he should proceed and how much he needs to address the problems of tribalism and the Palestinians (who almost overthrew his father more than 40 years ago) and create a more stable and educated society before attempting to create a full blown Western type of democracy.
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