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Assembling Power: Neoliberalism and Youth-labor Alliance in Jordan (2002-2012)
Abstract by Matthew Lacouture On Session 242  (Society and Identity in Jordan)

On Saturday, November 16 at 5:30 pm

2019 Annual Meeting

Abstract
The dynamism of the 2011-12 uprisings in Jordan was in large part due to the role of East Bank tribal youths—collectively referred to as the Hirak. This stemmed from the fact that they represented the geographic and tribal pillars of the monarchy; a social base of the regime dating all the way back to its founding. Yet, as recent scholarship shows, the path of the Hirak was paved by the activism of teachers, phosphate workers, day-wage laborers, and port workers as early as 2002. These workers conducted the strikes, sit-ins, and labor protests that broke the barrier of fear in Jordan and set the terms of further protest. Lacking the political significance of the Hirak, workers instead relied on their economic leverage. This paper argues that these two movements—labor and youth—represent two sides of the same coin: a youth-labor alliance. Such alliances were not unique to Jordan; indeed, the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt were also characterized by the intersection of youth and labor movements. This begs the question: How was it that individuals separated, in many instances, by class, geography, and ethnicity were drawn together into a national social movement? Through a case study of Jordan, I argue that patterns of neoliberal reform produced spatially uneven distributions of deprivation and dispossession that united otherwise disparate parts of Jordanian society while drawing from different wells of social power. Neoliberal practices rearranged urban spaces, privatized state assets, and sectioned the country into free economic zones—dramatically transforming the relationship between society and the state in the process. This produced a through-line of economic grievances that were articulated initially by localized labor activists, legitimized by early victories against the state, and which remained hegemonic as politically-minded but less experienced youth activists came on the scene. This paper draws on original interviews across Jordan with labor and youth activists, private sector actors, experts, current and former government officials and politicians conducted over one year of fieldwork in Jordan. I demonstrate how spatial patterns of neoliberal reform assembled the—often contradictory and fragile—youth-labor alliance that characterized the 2011-12 Arab uprisings in Jordan. The implications of this research extend into the present moment. Indeed, since the spatially uneven consequences of neoliberalism continue to be felt by young and working Jordanians, the potential for another youth-labor alliance remains.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
All Middle East
Jordan
Sub Area
None