Dr. Laith Kamal Nasrawin*
Amid the escalating regional war that is striking the region, the Jordanian internal scene imposes itself as a situation deserving of thought and reflection. While events accelerate and challenges magnify, the daily life of the Jordanian citizen remains largely stable, a picture that reflects a remarkable ability to contain the repercussions and neutralize their direct effects.
Despite the intensity of the rapid events, and the brutal aggression Jordan faces from the Iranian regime, the Jordanian citizen has not felt a radical change in the details of his daily life. Basic public services continue, face-to-face education persists, the health sector is performing its role with efficiency and mastery, and land and air transport are proceeding without significant disturbances.
This stability and reassurance felt by the Jordanian citizen, despite the escalating pace of the war, are not transient; they reflect the state's ability to insulate the interior from effects of the turbulent surroundings, and to limit the negative repercussions. Nevertheless, there remains a general sense of distrust accompanying the public mood, where rumors abound, and hearsay and exaggeration often overshadow the actual experience.
Hence, the paradox arises; it is not about the absence of accomplishments or the state's ability to manage the fallout of this confrontation, but in the failure to translate this performance into an increase in trust levels. The citizen sees that internal conditions are running normally, and the current war's effects have remained minimal, yet he does not connect the comfort he feels with the government management's efficiency and sound judgment in making appropriate decisions under these circumstances.
To understand this gap, it is essential to recall the cumulative experience of the Jordanian state. The national memory still retains many milestones the state has passed through over the years, which it has managed with high professionalism. For instance, the arrival of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 prompted the implementation of the defense law, posing a severe test to the state's internal strength. Nonetheless, national institutions continued to provide services beyond expectations, public satisfaction with that phase was positive, and the state capitalized on this stage in accumulating its experiences and knowledge, and in founding national bodies to support state management in exceptional circumstances.
A few months after closing the pandemic file, the Zionist aggression on our people in the Gaza Strip broke out, accompanied by significant challenges in domestic and foreign scenes, particularly in the political realm, with the increasing threat of displacement and its economic and social ramifications. Despite these challenges, the Jordanian state maintained its delicate balance in expressing its political constants and managing domestic affairs. The Jordanian continued his daily life, enjoying his constitutional rights to express his noble national stance, rejecting the Israeli war on the people in Palestine, through organizing marches and sit-ins, which the security forces dealt with wisdom and tolerance deserving of recognition.
Despite the multiple success stories of Jordan in managing exceptional files, the public image of the governments and state institutions remains relatively gloomy. Moreover, the citizen has not noticed that His Majesty King Abdullah II personally follows the developments in domestic affairs and issues his directives to officials for dealing with the challenges that have faced the Jordanian state over the years.
In this context, the trust crisis manifests as a complex social condition, not solely based on denying achievements but sometimes extending to deliberately creating a state of hostility toward the state. If successive governments have provoked the Jordanians through unfortunate decisions and laws affecting their daily lives, such matters remain an internal affair that can be questioned and criticized. However, when it concerns national sovereignty, the safety of its territories, and the protection of its resources, internal disagreements should be neutralized and not transform into a general judgment on the state and its institutions due to some officials' mistakes.
Therefore, an aware society stands by its state in good times and bad, based on the understanding that the state has a legal entity independent of the individuals managing it. The state is a constant constitutional reality made up of the people, the territory, and the political authority, while the officials exercising this authority change. Thus, it is incorrect to ascribe the responsibility of individual actions to the state as an independent moral entity, no matter how objectionable or criticized.
Based on this, the individual's right to criticize those in power is a fundamental right that cannot be denied. However, this constitutional freedom should not exceed recognizing the essential difference between the state and the government. The state is the homeland and identity we hold in our hearts and defend dearly, and it is improper for a disagreement with an official to turn into alignment against the nation or undermining its identity or trust. Hence, the bet remains on the Jordanian's awareness and ability to distinguish between the permanence of the homeland and the legitimate difference with governments, which enhances the state's strength and capacity to face challenges.
* Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Jordan
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