Going back to the early beginnings of democracy in Jordan in the [1950s], the
Jordanian people, particularly the youth and the activist forces, were very enthusiastic about
political parties, despite the fact that the level of political awareness then was not as advanced as
it is now. Conditions on the domestic, Pan-Arab, and international levels were encouraging.
Pan-Arabism was on the rise. There were goals for the Arabs to achieve, and there was a
consensus that it was feasible to achieve those goals. Political parties at that time had a vast
popular base. They were large and effective due to the large-scale popular participation in these
parties. The situation at present is the opposite. When political parties were born again, they
looked as if they were parties in the stage of formation.