227
© The Author(s) 2016
R.F. Hüttl et al. (eds.), Society - Water - Technology, Water Resources
Development and Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-18971-0_15
Chapter 15
Jordan’s Shadow State and Water
Management: Prospects for Water Security
Will Depend on Politics and Regional
Cooperation
Valerie Yorke
Abstract Over two decades, many have regarded the idea of a Red Sea–Dead Sea
(RSDS) Conveyance Project to save the Dead Sea as a golden opportunity for
Jordan. It held promise of providing the Kingdom with desalinated water to meet its
long-term needs. Now, with the project’s potential abandonment, Jordan needs to
consolidate and accelerate reforms to close its defi cits and improve water sector
sustainability until a long-term bulk solution is found. Addressing how these challenges might be dealt with, this chapter focuses on politics. Analysis of Jordan’s
water reforms over 20 years shows that the sector’s limited ability to achieve its
goals is rooted in a wider problem – the Kingdom’s organisation of political power.
The chapter explores how an evolving “political compact” between Throne and
people, underpinned by patronage, permitted an increasingly powerful neopatrimonial, anti-reformist elite – a resilient “shadow state” – to infl uence policies
and control the economy including in due course water resources. The water problem cannot therefore be remedied only through improved water management.
Taking account of the link between political dynamics and governance, the chapter
sets criteria for implementing reforms that, if met, would gradually free policymaking and institutions from shadow-state infl uence, providing context for effective
water solutions. A fi nal section, addressing the need for a nationwide coordinated
approach to comprehensive water reforms that could provide a path to water security, discusses how Jordan might accelerate policies underway, implement deeper
reforms and pursue further options – locally and regionally – to address mediumand long-term challenges.
This paper draws on research for, and the analysis and data in the author’s study, Politics matter:
Jordan’s path to water security lies through political reforms and regional cooperation , April
2013, commissioned by NCCR-Trade Regulation, World Trade Institute, Bern.
V. Yorke (*)
NCCR Trade Regulation/World Trade Institute , University of Bern ,
Hallerstr. 6 , 3012 Bern , Switzerland
e-mail: v.yorke@btinternet.com
© The Author(s) 2016
R.F. Hüttl et al. (eds.), Society - Water - Technology, Water Resources
Development and Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-18971-0_15
Chapter 15
Jordan’s Shadow State and Water
Management: Prospects for Water Security
Will Depend on Politics and Regional
Cooperation
Valerie Yorke
Abstract Over two decades, many have regarded the idea of a Red Sea–Dead Sea
(RSDS) Conveyance Project to save the Dead Sea as a golden opportunity for
Jordan. It held promise of providing the Kingdom with desalinated water to meet its
long-term needs. Now, with the project’s potential abandonment, Jordan needs to
consolidate and accelerate reforms to close its defi cits and improve water sector
sustainability until a long-term bulk solution is found. Addressing how these challenges might be dealt with, this chapter focuses on politics. Analysis of Jordan’s
water reforms over 20 years shows that the sector’s limited ability to achieve its
goals is rooted in a wider problem – the Kingdom’s organisation of political power.
The chapter explores how an evolving “political compact” between Throne and
people, underpinned by patronage, permitted an increasingly powerful neopatrimonial, anti-reformist elite – a resilient “shadow state” – to infl uence policies
and control the economy including in due course water resources. The water problem cannot therefore be remedied only through improved water management.
Taking account of the link between political dynamics and governance, the chapter
sets criteria for implementing reforms that, if met, would gradually free policymaking and institutions from shadow-state infl uence, providing context for effective
water solutions. A fi nal section, addressing the need for a nationwide coordinated
approach to comprehensive water reforms that could provide a path to water security, discusses how Jordan might accelerate policies underway, implement deeper
reforms and pursue further options – locally and regionally – to address mediumand long-term challenges.
This paper draws on research for, and the analysis and data in the author’s study, Politics matter:
Jordan’s path to water security lies through political reforms and regional cooperation , April
2013, commissioned by NCCR-Trade Regulation, World Trade Institute, Bern.
V. Yorke (*)
NCCR Trade Regulation/World Trade Institute , University of Bern ,
Hallerstr. 6 , 3012 Bern , Switzerland
e-mail: v.yorke@btinternet.com