Jordan: Caught Between the Muslim Brotherhood and the East Bankers

A pro-regime faction tabled a bill in the Jordanian parliament April 17 to outlaw parties based on religion — a veiled attempt to ban the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Forty-six of 83 lawmakers voted to add the item to the country's draft political parties law.

Despite appearances, deliberations over this bill do not mean the regime is engaged in a zero-sum game with the MB. Instead, the threat to ban the MB is part of an intensifying bargain between the Hashemite regime and the MB as the monarchy tries to manage the country's simmering unrest. Amman wants the Islamist movement to stop exploiting the unrest to reverse the changes made to Jordan's electoral laws over the past two decades, which have prevented the MB from realizing its true electoral potential. The regime has several tools it can use to manage the MB and the overall unrest, but its bargaining position could weaken.