Contatti e Disconnessioni fra Stato e Società: Identità, potere e meccanismi tribali nel Regno hashemita di Giordania

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has been defined as a tribal state according to its identity narrative woven into its state formation period. The building of the Jordanian state went in unison with the integration of the tribal system into it drawing on tribes for legitimacy and State survival. Anthropological studies allow to understand the perils of a centralised identity based on a decentralised system, that is to say, tribalism. Jordan’s tribal heritage embodies the same ethos of the State. Several times the King has highlighted the tribal trait as one of the establishing pillars of the country, specifying its role in supporting public institutions and safeguarding security as well as stability. The assumption is that Jordanian identity is no longer under control of the regime as it origins from tribes that are still a decentralised and independent system: it happened several times in the past and nowadays more than ever. Local origins are still of a momentous importance for Jordanians whose tribe of origin represents their business and social card. According to the Instrumentalist theory of ethnicity, to what extent ethnicity guarantees a return to the people determines people adherence to it. It represents a tool of political mobilisation as far as a threat (internal or external) endanger the interests of the group. As identity is power, localism becomes dangerous when developing itself into a state identity because the borders of the community become the same state’s borders. So that any group coming from outside is a potential threat and identity results strengthened crisis by crisis. As identity is used as a tool of negotiation, the regime’s response to regional crisis, from the Syrian refugees wave to Daesh threat is affected by tribal constraints and leverage power. Practical examples of this negotiation are several from the past until present times: from the nationalist “East Banker First” to the Hirak Movement, from “Kulna Urdun” slogan to the Hashemite flag without forgetting the so-called “Black September complex”. The mutual interaction and mutation that gave life to the state in a process where the central government was affected from the tribes and vice-versa seem to be now a double-edged sword against the regime.