Jordan’s Remarkable Resilience

... to carry on relatively unscathed. The Syrian civil war has been both a curse and a blessing. While the war added to the refugee burden and visibly transformed the social landscape of the country’s northern areas straining under the influx of Syrians and expansion of the refugee camps, it also weakened the opposition. The movement split along pro- and anti-Assad lines , hindering any attempts at concerted pressure on the Hashemite regime. The protesters’ demands for more political representation, fairer elections, and more power to the parliament have mostly gone unheeded. The largest concession offered by the King has been to consult the parliament in appointing ...