The Strangely Stable Kingdom of Jordan

On this day 17 years ago, King Abdullah II inherited the throne of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan following the death of his father, King Hussein. His family, the Hashemites, have ruled since the British government set up the monarchy in 1921 and maintained their steady rule through Jordan's independence from Britain in 1946. The death of Abdullah's father, King Hussein, marked the end of a 46-year reign largely spent steering his young kingdom through ups and downs of the Arab nationalist movements, the 1967 Six-Day War and the Cold War....