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www.ssoar.info Jordan's Socio-Economic Woes and Foreign Policy: Employment, Trade, and International Cooperation - Policy Briefs from the Region and Europe Fakoussa, Dina (Ed.); Kabis-Kechrid, Laura Lale (Ed.) Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Sammelwerk / collection Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Fakoussa, D., & Kabis-Kechrid, L. L. (Eds.). (2020). Jordan's Socio-Economic Woes and Foreign Policy: Employment, Trade, and International Cooperation - Policy Briefs from the Region and Europe (DGAP Report, 5). Berlin: Forschungsinstitut der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e.V. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168- ssoar-67087-2 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY-NC-ND Lizenz This document is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence (Namensnennung-Nicht-kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung) zur (Attribution-Non Comercial-NoDerivatives). For more Information Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.de German Council on Foreign Relations No. 5 January 2020 – first published REPORT in July 2019 Edited Volume Jordan’s Socio-Economic Woes and Foreign Policy Employment, Trade, and International Cooperation – Policy Briefs from the Region and Europe Edited by Dina Fakoussa and Laura Lale Kabis-Kechrid 2 No. 5 | January 2020 – first published in July 2019 Jordan’s Socio-Economic Woes and Foreign Policy REPORT The following papers were written by participants of the workshop “Promotion of Think Tank Work on Socio-Economic Reforms and Jordan’s Foreign Policy” organized by the German Council on Foreign Rela- tions’ Middle East and North Africa Program in the spring and summer of 2019 in cooperation with the West Asia-North Africa (WANA) Institute and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Amman. The workshop is part of the program’s project on the promotion of think tank work in the Middle East and North Africa, which aims to strengthen the scientific and technical capacities of civil society actors in the region and the EU who are engaged in research and policy analysis and advice. It is realized with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office and the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa e.V.). The content of the papers does not reflect the opinion of the DGAP. Responsibility for the information and views expressed herein lies entirely with the authors. The editorial closing date was June 30, 2019. Authors: Nadim Abillama, Salam Abukhadrah, Mohammed Al Husari, Rana Aytug, Hassan Barari, Bara’ah Bathaina, Tomisha Bino, Eugenio Dacrema, Hela Manadile, Jessica Obeid, Bothaina Qamar, Sophie Schmid, and Tamara Taher Edited by Dina Fakoussa and Laura Lale Kabis-Kechrid No. 5 | January 2020 – first published in July 2019 3 REPORT Jordan’s Socio-Economic Woes and Foreign Policy THE AUTHORS Nadim Abillama is a senior public policy analyst at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) working on the European and Middle East markets. He studied EU public policy at the College of Europe in Bruges. Salam Abukhadrah is a Ph.D. candidate researching employment policies and its relation to women’s empowerment at the Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC). She holds a joint MSc in Macroeconomics and Political Economy from the Univer- sity Paris 13, the University Paris-Diderot and Kingston University London. She is an advocate for women’s rights and sexual reproductive health rights (SRHRs). Mohammed Al Husari is a Jordanian-UK business owner with extensive experi- ence managing an industrial start-up in Jordan focused on exports to the EU. His practical experience as the commercial manager and vice chairman of Al Shohra Plastics has given him in-depth expertise on the barriers to industrial develop- ment in the Middle East. He holds an MSc in Economics from the University of Edinburgh. Rana Aytug joined the Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) at Coventry University in May 2017 where she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. through a CTPSR scholarship in partnership with the United Nations Alliance of Civiliza- tions. Her research interests are focused around youth civic engagement, urban diversity, and peacebuilding. She holds an MSc in Spatial Planning from the Ger- man Jordanian University and a BSc in Architecture from the Applied Science Private University in Jordan. Hassan Barari is a professor of International Relations at the University of Jordan and a columnist at The Jordan Times. He is the author of many books and articles published in peer-reviewed international journals. Bara’ah Bathaina works as a Youth Hub coordinator at the Liwan youth space in Amman, which aims to provide opportunities for youth and volunteers to connect them with other stakeholders who can support their engagement and activism, thus providing an arena to build solidarity around youth issues across Jordan. She holds a BSc in Surveying and Geomatics Engineering from Al-Balqa Applied University in Jordan. Tomisha Bino is a program analyst at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva, Switzerland. At the time of the workshop, she worked as a researcher at the Conflict Analysis and International Crisis Management Department of the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University. Her research interests include political elites and stabilization, as well as disarmament and arms control policy in the Middle East. Eugenio Dacrema is the acting Co-Head of the MENA Center at the Italian Insti- tute for International Studies (ISPI). At the time of the workshop, he worked as a research fellow at the same institute. His research focuses on the socioeconomics of the Mashreq countries, in particular Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. He writes for numerous national and international outlets such as the Atlantic Council, Syria Untold, Corriere della Sera, Eastwest, and Il Foglio. 4 No. 5 | January 2020 – first published in July 2019 Jordan’s Socio-Economic Woes and Foreign Policy REPORT Hela Manadile works in refugee law as a protection officer – chief of section (emergency housing for migrants) in a governmental asylum office. In parallel, she founded MIDDLEMEN – Justice without Borders. As the president of this French NGO, she advocates for the development of a universal jurisdiction tool for vic- tims of war crimes, genocides, and crimes against humanity who received refu- gee protection in France and are willing to fight the impunity of past crimes (in their country of origin or during their exile). She holds a Ph.D. in Geopolitics and Human Rights from the University of Valencia. Jessica Obeid is an independent energy consultant who has worked with the public and private sectors and international organizations on the power sector in the Middle East. She previously served as a resident fellow at Chatham House in London within the energy, environment and resources department, where her research focused on diversification of the power sector and the threats and opportunities of electricity utilities. Bothaina Qamar is a UNFPA youth program analyst. She is a development prac- titioner with more than ten years of experience in managing and coordinating humanitarian and development projects and programs in various organizations including UN Women, CARE International, and Right to Play. Sophie Schmid is a regional project manager at the Friedrich Naumann Foun- dation for Freedom’s regional office in Amman, where she works in the field of political education, entrepreneurship, and public policy. She has a background in Islamic Science and Arabic Studies from the University of Zurich and the Freie Universität Berlin. Tamara Taher is a Ph.D. student at the universities of Florence and Turin. Her research interests and topics concern intellectuals, popular culture, subalternity, civil society, and politics in the MENA region, with a particular focus on the ques- tion of Palestine. She is a member of the Italian Society for Middle Eastern Studies (SeSaMo Italia). THE EDITORS Dina Fakoussa has been head of the German Council on Foreign Relations’ (DGAP) Middle East and North Africa Program, formerly the EU-Middle East Forum, since March 2011. She previously worked as a program and project manager on issues regarding democratization, human rights, civil conflict resolution, and strength- ening civil society in the Arab region. Laura Lale Kabis-Kechrid has been a program officer in the Middle East and North Africa program since 2015. In addition to her work on Turkish domestic and foreign policies, she is involved in projects focusing on developments in North Africa and Jordan. Table of content INTRODUCTION 7 by Laura Lale Kabis-Kechrid Chapter I: Socio-Economic Challenges and Reforms in Jordan POLITICAL ECONOMY THE BLIND SPOT OF INTERNATIONAL DONORS – 11 HOW THE JORDANIAN POLITICAL ELITE UNDERMINES SOCIO-ECONOMIC REFORM by Tomisha Bino ENERGY ENERGY POLICY IN JORDAN – ACHIEVING SECURITY 15 AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH DOMESTIC RENEWABLE ENERGY by Nadim Abillama IMPROVING COMPETITIVENESS AND TRADE 19 BALANCE THROUGH DECENTRALIZED RENEWABLE ENERGY – THE CASE OF JORDAN by Jessica Obeid EMPLOYMENT FROM SURVIVAL STRATEGY TO INNOVATION – 23 CREATING AN ENABLING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT FOR MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN JORDAN by Sophie Schmid THE „EMPLOYER OF LAST RESORT“ – A ROUTE TO 28 WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN RURAL JORDAN by Salam Abukhadrah PROMOTING FLEXIBLE WORK REGULATION IN 33 JORDAN TO ACHIEVE COMPREHENSIVE YOUTH ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT by Bara’ah Bathaina 6 No.