From Mandate to Kingdom: The Social Origins of Hashemite Power in the Sown

Abstract

By the eve of World War II, recurrent drought, the toll of Saudi raids, and the closure of the desert frontiers had brought about a near-extinction of camel herding. Glubb’s encouragement of agro-pastoralism, and his creation of a militarized welfare regime had transformed the political economy of the steppe and pulled the Bedouin in towards the settled zone. The “military multiplier” that resulted from the transport and communications infrastructure needed to sustain the Arab Legion, the incomes and expenditures of the men it enlisted, and the resulting demand for staples and consumption goods had altered the structure of Trans-Jordan’s economy and the distribution of its urban population. In tandem with this “military Keynesianism”and the new system of Bedouin control, Britain inaugurated reforms of rural taxation and property rights initially aimed at stimulating agricultural growth and providing a sound fiscal basis for Mandatory rule.The land settlement wrought by the British amounted to a revolution in land tenure, privatizing lands held in common under musha‘a, bringing the direct influence of the state into the life of every East Bank village, and turning its agents into the ultimate arbiters of rural rights and fiscal obligations.