The Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS) Middle East Studies Speaker Series and the UCSD Judaic Studies Program Present:

Asher Susser
Senior Fellow, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University

Visiting Professor, Center for Judaic Studies, University of Arizona

"Identity Politics in Jordan; Implications for Domestic Stability and Relations with Israel"

Monday, May 2, 2011
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Eleanor Roosevelt College Admin Bldg (ERC), Room 115

Register at: http://iicas.ucsd.edu/speaker-series/registration.html

In the last two generations a distinct Jordanian sense of collective identity has evolved, mainly in contradistinction to the Palestinian "other." A palpable tension exists across this fault line and has been exacerbated as a result of Jordan's economic woes. Original Jordanians increasingly feel that they are losing both economically and politically to their Palestinian compatriots. In their perception this is an erosion of the unwritten socio-political contract that they have had for decades with the Hashemite monarchy. There have recently been unusual expressions of dissatisfaction with the monarchy coming from within the ranks of the Jordanian establishment. These same voices are not only extremely suspicious of their Palestinian compatriots, but they harbor great fears of what they believe are Israeli designs against Jordan, to convert the Kingdom into an "alternative homeland" for the Palestinians. In Jordan of these days, therefore, traditionally loyal forces to the Hashemite regime are increasingly critical of the country's policies towards the Palestinians, a factor which has potentially serious impact on the Kingdom's long term stability, as well as on its relations with Israel.

Asher Susser is a Senior Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and a Visiting Professor in the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona. He was the Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for twelve years and has taught for some thirty years in TAU’s Department of Middle Eastern History. His most recent book is on Israel, Jordan and Palestine; Challenges of Palestinian Statehood (University Press of New England, forthcoming, Fall 2011). He is the author or editor of eight other books and most recently published a monograph on The Rise of Hamas in Palestine and the Crisis of Secularism in the Arab World (2010).

More info:
http://iicas.ucsd.edu/speaker-series/middle-east-studies.html

Sponsored by the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS) Middle East Studies Speaker Series at UC San Diego, and co-sponsored by the UCSD Judaic Studies Program.

Event questions:

iicas-events@ucsd.edu
http://iicas.ucsd.edu