The Impact of Economic Reform on Political Reform: Jordan as a Model

Abstract

The objective of this study is to identify the impact of economic reform on political reform in Jordan. This is achieved in three stages, commencing with developing the methodological framework of the study. This was followed by creating a theoretical scale of the relationship between economic and political reform by the use of moderating variables, which was applied to the Jordanian experience in the third and final stage of the research. The study results revealed that the economic reform (the independent variable) had a moderate impact on political reform (dependent variable) during the study period (1989-2016). The overall value of the six indices of economic reform was moderate, as was the overall value of the six indices pertinent to political reform. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that Jordan’s political regime is partly free, with restricted democracy that has presently not fully matured, as it suffers from governmental and parliamentary instability, weak political participation, widespread corruption and weak governmental efficiency. The results also suggest lack of political will to achieve the desired reform and absence of an economic vision to lead the country to a better future.