Jordan on the Brink, 1955-57: Britain, America, and the Survival of the Jordanian Monarchy.
Weinberg, Jesse.
2015
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Abstract: This paper will examine the dramatic changes in Jordanian politics from 1955 to 1957. Jordan, as a state created in the aftermath of the First World War, as a British backed client monarchy, without any unified political or cultural identity was extremely susceptible to the subversive influences of Arab Nationalism, and more specifically Nasserism during the 1950's. As a result, Jordan ... read morewas placed in the middle of two linked conflicts, the Arab Cold War, between Gamal Abdel Nasser and his allies on the one hand and the pro-Western Arab monarchies on the other, and the wider Cold War, between the West and the Soviet Union. My thesis will look at the international influences in domestic Jordanian politics, and the Jordanian domestic response, which coincided with the decline of British power in the Middle East, and the rise of Arab nationalism, specifically emanating from Gamal Abdel Nasser's Egypt, reaching its apogee after the Suez Crisis. With the ascent to power of the young King Hussein, Jordan found itself in a vulnerable geopolitical position as Jordanian public opinion turned against the monarchy's patron, Britain, after the calamitous events surrounding Jordan's failed entry to the Baghdad Pact and the Suez Crisis. In response, King Hussein was forced to perform a balancing act, asserting Jordanian independence by firing the longtime commander of the Arab Legion, John Glubb, and deftly navigating between the rising Arab nationalist tide and potential threats to his rule, enhancing Jordan's strategic position by entering into an alliance with the United States, at the expense of declining British power. The development and enhancement of King Hussein's power secured Jordan's political stability, and ushered in the state as an important bulwark against the spread of communism and Arab nationalism throughout the Cold War.
Thesis (M.A.)--Tufts University, 2015.
Submitted to the Dept. of History.
Advisor: Hugh Roberts.
Committee: Ibrahim Warde, and Malik Mufti.
Keyword: History.read less - ID:
- dj52wg78k
- Component ID:
- tufts:21555
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
