In Jordan, an Emboldened Muslim Brotherhood

The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood has called for a demonstration involving 50,000 protesters in Amman on Oct. 5 — the first protest involving the Islamic group in a month and possibly the most substantial rally in Jordan in more than a year. If the demonstration gathers even a quarter of its anticipated support, it would be the largest display of the Brotherhood's political power since mid-2011.

The event, along with the Brotherhood's planned boycott of upcoming parliamentary elections, appears to be part of an effort to exploit the Jordanian monarchy's currently weak position and exact substantial political concessions. Meanwhile, factions of Jordan's two main ethnic groups, the Palestinian-Jordanians and the tribal East Bankers, are striving to make their own gains and limit the power of the Brotherhood by undermining negotiations between the Islamist group and the monarchy. This competition is complicated by Jordan's weak economy, making conditions ripe for instability in the coming months.