The Islamic Action Front and the Jordanian Process of Political Liberlisation: A Collaborative or Competitive Relationship?

5 Introduction The compatibility between Islamic movements, Islamic parties and democracy has been one of the most controversial issues concerning Middle East and Arab states in the past years, further discussed after the undisputed predominance of Hezbollah in Lebanon after 2006 and the Hamas victory of January 2006 in Gaza. The debate regarding the participation of these movements in the elections and in the institutional political life of the Arab states, and the question about whether or not Islam is intrinsically compatible with democratic values and human rights has been at the centre of a even harsher academic quarrel, related to the fact that the Arab world after the collapse of the Soviet Union is the last region excluded from all the democratisation waves. 1 Since its creation in 1946, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has been faced with the presence of a strong Islamic movement which over the years carried a hegemonic and ambitious social, cultural, economic and, in its last instance, political project. In fact, the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1945 by Abdelatif Abu Qura, following the inspiration of the Egyptian movement created by Hassan el Banna in 1928 marked the starting point of an organised Islamic discourse that contributed to shaping, creating and maintaining the Jordanian Islamic identity. The relationship of this movement with the monarchy has been for the most part collaborative, supporting the regime in exchange for a quite free possibility of action, mainly in the social and educational fields, which represents the main goals of the Muslim Brotherhood in the spread of the da'wa. This Jordanian regime-Muslim Brotherhood relationship constituted a unique case in the regional history of the Arab regimes' relations with the Islamic movements. 2 During the same years in which the monarchy built a collaborative relation with the Ikhwan, based on the mutual recognition and legitimisation, the other Arab regimes were characterised by a politics of harsh repression against the Islamic movement. The golden age of the regime-Jordanian Brotherhoods' relation can be traced to 1 See Huntington S.P. (1991), Democracy's Third Wave, in “The Journal of Democracy”, Vol. 2 N.2. 2 Concerning the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Haschemite monarchy there is a broad literature. For example, see Bar S.(June 1998), The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Data and Analysis, Tel Aviv, The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Boulby M. (1999), The Muslim Brotherhood and the Kings of Jordan, 1945-1993, Florida, University of South Florida, Wiktorowicz Q. (2001), The Management of Islamic Activism: Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood and State Power in Jordan, Albany, State University of New York Press and Abu Rumman M. (2007), The Muslim Brotherhood in the 2007 Jordanian Parliamentary Elections: A Passing „Political Setback‟ or Diminished Popularity?, Amman, Friedrich-Ebert- Stiftung, pp.18-22.