Creating Consent in an Illiberal Order : Policing Disputes in Jordan

Although Middle Eastern states are commonly referred to as 'police states', little has been written about their police. By studying the 'low policing' of interpersonal disputes in Jordan, this book outlines the inconspicuous, daily methods the state uses to create and sustain the social order.

Middle Eastern police forces have a reputation for carrying out repression and surveillance on behalf of authoritarian regimes, despite frequently under enforcing the law. But what is their role in co-creating and sustaining social order? In this book, Jessica Watkins focuses on the development of the Jordanian police institution to demonstrate that rather than being primarily concerned with law enforcement, the police are first and foremost concerned with order. In Jordan, social order combines the influence of longstanding tribal practices with regime efforts to promote neoliberal economic policies alongside a sense of civic duty amongst citizens. Rather than focusing on the ''high policing'' of offences deemed to threaten state security, Watkins explores the ''low policing'' of interpersonal disputes including assault, theft, murder, traffic accidents, and domestic abuse to shed light on the varied strategies of power deployed by the police alongside other societal actors to procure hegemonic ''consent''.