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6 - Securing Jordan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2019

Benjamin Schuetze
Affiliation:
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
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Summary

This chapter begins by discussing the ways in which ‘democracy promoters’ view their own work and security support to the Jordanian regime as mutually reinforcing. After providing an overview over the role of Jordanian security services, the chapter presents an in-depth analysis of US security support to Jordan with the example of the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Centre (KASOTC). The chapter demonstrates that processes of commercialisation in US-Jordanian military collaboration directly presuppose, create and reinforce marketable images of ‘the enemy’, which fundamentally revolve around the creation of non-Western insecurities. The processes of commercialisation and militarisation triggered by US-Jordanian military collaboration are deeply anti-democratic, as notions of public control lose ground and as deliberative questions about war are replaced by consumerist desires to play at war and simultaneously enhance one’s corporate leadership skills. It is argued that US security support has created a situation in which security support becomes business, and business an act of securing Jordan. Within this process of securing Jordan, Jordanians increasingly appear either as security threats or as mere passive objects waiting to be secured. The chapter is based extensively on interviews with KASOTC staff, as well as attendance at KASOTC’s Annual Warrior Competition.

Type
Chapter
Information
Promoting Democracy, Reinforcing Authoritarianism
US and European Policy in Jordan
, pp. 170 - 214
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Securing Jordan
  • Benjamin Schuetze, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
  • Book: Promoting Democracy, Reinforcing Authoritarianism
  • Online publication: 04 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108623681.007
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  • Securing Jordan
  • Benjamin Schuetze, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
  • Book: Promoting Democracy, Reinforcing Authoritarianism
  • Online publication: 04 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108623681.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Securing Jordan
  • Benjamin Schuetze, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
  • Book: Promoting Democracy, Reinforcing Authoritarianism
  • Online publication: 04 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108623681.007
Available formats
×