Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May 2026, pp. 85-86
Book Talks
ON MARCH 8, Middle East Books and More hosted author and journalist Aaron Magid for a discussion of his new biography of King Abdullah II of Jordan, The Most American King. A former Amman-based journalist, Magid drew on a range of sources to paint a comprehensive portrait of the monarch’s 27-year reign.
Abdullah’s regime has proven remarkably durable amid the wars and uprisings that have convulsed the Middle East during his rule. Magid notes that nearly all of Abdullah’s Arab contemporaries when he took the throne in 1999, including Bashar al-Assad, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Saddam Hussain and Hosni Mubarak, are either dead or ousted.
The king has maintained security cooperation with Israel amid its genocide in Gaza and ongoing annexation of the West Bank, despite presiding over a population that is roughly half of Palestinian origin. While neighboring Iraq and Syria suffered foreign interventions and state collapse, the Hashemite Kingdom remained relatively stable. Even the Arab Spring failed to seriously threaten Abdullah’s grip on power. Considering the plethora of internal and external challenges to his reign, Magid asks, “What explains King Abdullah’s longevity, especially because Jordan’s economy is terrible and the country doesn’t have oil?”
Much of the answer, Magid contends, lies in the king’s uniquely personal and political relationship with the United States. Abdullah attended middle and high school in Massachusetts, studied at Georgetown University and trained with the U.S. military in Kentucky. His American upbringing ensured that Amman’s historically close ties with Washington would only strengthen upon Abdullah’s ascension to the throne in 1999.
“King Abdullah is able to maneuver in Washington very well because he understands the political and cultural dynamics of the country far better than many other Arab states,” Magid explained. The monarch has cultivated strong relationships with both Democratic and Republican administrations, along with Congress and the national security establishment. Jordan hosts thousands of American troops and has refused to definitively break from the United States foreign policy in the region despite widespread opposition at home. Jordan joined the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS, which only gained domestic support after the terrorist group released a video showing the immolation of a captured Jordanian pilot. Most recently, Jordan assisted the United States by intercepting Iranian missiles fired at Israel and U.S. military bases in Jordanian airspace. The dividends of this alliance, according to Magid, have been the first free trade agreement between Washington and an Arab state as well as “billions upon billions of dollars in financial aid” that has now reached $1.5 billion annually.
While financial aid has allowed the Hashemite Kingdom to sustain its perpetually flagging economy, Abdullah’s relationship with his U.S.-trained security forces have proven at least as essential to his survival. Magid notes, “we didn’t see any division between the Jordanian security forces and the king” during key crises, such as the Arab Spring protests, threats from al-Qaeda and ISIS, an attempted power-grab by Abdullah’s half-brother Prince Hamza in 2021, and pro-Palestine protests after Oct. 7. “The Jordanian security forces, according to Amnesty International, have arrested more than 1,500 pro-Gaza protesters in the country,” Magid said. “Many in the Jordanian security forces might have sympathized with the Palestinian protesters, but they stood once again firmly behind the regime, and that has ensured King Abdullah’s survival.”
Magid contends that Abdullah has governed through a more calibrated form of authoritarianism than some of Jordan’s neighbors. Jordan is “certainly not a democracy,” he said, describing parliament as “toothless” and emphasizing that real authority remains concentrated in the monarch. Yet Abdullah has avoided the level of brutality seen under Saddam Hussain or Bashar al-Assad. “He’s not bombing his own people. He’s not killing journalists,” Magid said. That more measured approach to dissent, while still repressive, has helped contain public anger and prevent the kinds of fractures that have destabilized other regimes. He also notes that the institution of monarchy has proven more durable than republican regimes in the region, as the Arab Spring uprisings failed to topple a single Arab monarchy.
Abdullah’s balancing act is demonstrative of how Jordan’s stability is both preserved and threatened by its relationship with Washington. Magid suggests that Abdullah’s strategy of preserving close ties with Washington has helped ensure the regime’s survival, but it has also left Jordan to absorb the shockwaves of conflicts driven by U.S. and Israeli policy. There is no indication that King Abdullah’s rule will end in the foreseeable future, but his rule is tethered to an increasingly bellicose Washington and an expansionist Israel that may prove to be Jordan’s greatest liability in the long term.
—Jack McGrath
