This paper analyses repertoires of claim-making in two provincial capitals in the Jordanian South. It addresses both the geographical unevenness of state capacity made evident in the cities of Ma‘an and Aqaba and the forms of contention that emerge in its wake. Drawing on twenty months of ethnographic fieldwork, the paper examines routine discussions and extraordinary episodes of protest that address the quality and quantity of welfare services provided by Jordan’s state apparatus. After unpacking the administrative relationship of these cities to central institutions based in Amman, I attempt to show how ordinary citizens relate to the state through their rhetoric, protests and patterns of action regarding an ever-diminishing set of public services. Surprisingly, many see their marginalization not just as the product of a negligent, brutal or corrupt state but rather, as a direct product of its relative absence, by design or disregard. Drawing on the work of Lisa Wedeen and Michelle Obeid, I argue that the main product of this geographical unevenness is a general atmosphere of cynical ambivalence, or what Lauren Berlant (2011) terms cruel optimism, a collective ‘structure of feeling’ that permeates Jordanian politics (Williams 1977). The uneven exercise of state power engenders not simply failure, corruption or abandonment but a pervasive ambiguity that complicates practices of dissent in the Hashemite Kingdom. By actively denouncing certain governmental actions while demanding a more extensive set of benevolent interventions, these citizens can sometimes succeed in calling attention to their plight. Yet they also reinforce their reliance on the very institutions that foster their marginality. Crucially, claim-making in the Jordanian south entangles citizens in (re)producing the state, despite ample skepticism regarding its functions and operations. As a result, and notwithstanding their seemingly oppositional nature, claims on the state may very well work to reinforce the power relations ordinary citizens criticize and seek to contest.