Patronage and clientelism in Jordan: Tribes and the Kingdom within the Arab SpringLuis Melin Rodrguez[footnoteRef:1] [1: Luis Melin is a PhD Candidate at Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. He is currently working on Arabic political change processes and he spent six month of fieldwork at Jordan doing research on tribal politics. ]

AbstractIn the context of the popular uprisings in the MENA countries, commonly known as the "Arab Spring", Jordan has remained in a second place both from the international scene and from scholar analysis. The Hashemite Kingdom, characterized by political stability and "neutral" positioning in many of the confrontations that shape regional politics has overcome some changes and modifications in order to avoid political processes like those that are experiencing some of its neighbours. Thus, this article analyses from a political science perspective and throughout a process-tracing method that changes have occurred in Jordan and how this process has been.The analysis has a particular emphasis on the central role of tribal organization politics within the Jordanian Monarchy. Jordanian politics cannot be understood without paying attention to the existing links between Jordanian Royal Family and the traditional social tribal structure. This linkage is based on a patronage and clientelistic relationship that arises from a patrimonal view of the State. Tribes are the main support of the Hashemite power, but it is not a disinterested ally but on the contrary tribes rely on the patrimonial redistribution for their survival. In this context, the Kingdom needs to reassure tribal loyalty in order to maintain its traditional political stability. However, after the last neoliberal economic reforms many privatizations have taken place and tribes have lost a great deal of their incomes. Thus, traditional loyalty has started for a first time to be reviewed and questioned.Keywords: Political Change, Tribal Patronage, Jordan politics, Tribal Politics, Patrimonial Redistribution.