Claiming Private to Evade Democracy? The Leviathan Gas Deal and the Jordanian Constitutional Court

This blogpost argues that the Jordanian Constitutional Court relied on grey areas facilitated by the private-public distinction to override popular dissent against the Leviathan Gas Deal

Perceived attitudes and barriers towards medical research: a survey of Jordanian interns, residents, and other postgraduates

Purpose We investigated research barriers among Jordanian medical postgraduates to understand the current context of the local health research landscape and improve scholarly output. Methods Using a validated questionnaire, Jordanian interns, residents, specialists, and consultants were examined for their perceived attitudes and barriers towards research. Participants were conveniently sampled from public, university, military, and private institutions. Differences in responses were examined using the Student t-test and analysis of variance. Binary logistic regression was utilized to examine predictors of being able to publish. Results A total of 1,141 Jordanian medical postgraduates were recruited, of which 61.3% were junior postgraduates (i.e., interns and residents in their first 2 years of residency) while 38.7% were senior postgraduates (i.e., senior residents, specialists, and consultants). Around 76.0% of participants had no peer-reviewed publications. Of those with least one publication (n=273), only 31.1% had first authorships. Participants portrayed dominantly positive attitudes towards the importance of research. There were no significant differences between junior and senior postgraduates for overall attitudes (p=0.486) and knowledge barriers scores (p=0.0261). Conversely, senior postgraduates demonstrated higher mean organizational barriers (p<0.001). Seniority (odds ratio [OR], 5.268; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.341–8.307), age (OR, 1.087; 95% CI, 1.019–1.159), academic standing (OR, 1.730; 95% CI, 1.103–2.715), and confidence (OR, 1.086; 95% CI, 1.009–1.169) were positive predictors of publication in peer reviewed journals. Conclusion The Jordanian medical research landscape is riddled with all forms of different barriers. The reworking of current and integration of new research training programs are of utmost importance

Roland Barthes: Myth

This item introduces the notion of Myth from the work of Roland Barthes

Defense or Domination: The Categories of Israel’s Occupation

Situated in the context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This short piece takes on a semiotic analysis of the categories used to describe the ongoing armed conflict. it demonstrates how such categorizations establish their legitimacy with a fake inference to international law as they travel across the parallel digital war of narratives and representations

Revisiting Allende’s 1972 Speech at the United Nations General Assembly: Histories Repeated with a Twist

This article recalls Allende’s speech and traces the spirals of history – the discourse and conduct – that over time led to the gradual exclusion of economic and corporate matters from public international law, and the normalisation of such a state of affairs

Assessing Jordan’s Response to COVID19 under Anti-Corruption Standards

The report provides an assessment of the Jordanian government’s policies in response to, and during the COVID19 pandemic. The assessment is conducted with reference to the standards set out in international anti-corruption instruments, guidelines issued by the Office of the Human Rights Council relevant to extraordinary governmental powers under COVID19 and Jordan’s Commitments in the London Anti-Corruption Summit of 2016. It is also contextualised within Jordan’s own cultural, political and economic conditions, while the issues investigated relate to the specific risks posed by the pandemic on the public and private spheres. To do so, the report relies on publically available sources, which include governmental statements, news reports, civil society reports among others. The report examines three sets of policies: those issued in relation to the Defence act of 1992, which was enacted for the purpose of endowing the government with extraordinary powers to enact pandemic response measures; more general policies enacted in relation to either the public or private sectors during the pandemic; and specific policies and decisions in relation to the scope of the London Commitments of 2016. One overarching limit to the research has been the absence and inconsistency of the available information. As such, while the report acknowledges efforts of the Jordanian’s government to strengthen transparency, the available information only allows a partial assessment of the government’s overall commitment to averse corrupt practices during the pandemic. Assessment of policies issued under the Defence act shows that the government had set out to enact policies strictly within the scope of public health, the enactment of drastic measures was justified at multiple intervals given Jordan’s weak capacity to face the pandemic, yet there was a notable inconsistency and confusion that could have opened the door for exploitation, with absence of direct normative safeguards against such possible exploitation. Nonetheless, the government responded proactively to reports of corrupt practices, and no evidence serves to show any major unattended occurrence of the sort. On another note, the government established an emergency response fund under the defence act, the fund received considerable donations from the private sector. In the interim, one risk that was flagged internationally at the wake of a global enactment of emergency laws was the use of such laws to fulfil a political agenda beyond the public health agenda. In response to this risk, the report assesses occurrences in Jordan during COVID19 relevant to: freedom of speech, judicial independence and the right to public assembly, the protection of which is a vital mechanism in the fight against corruption. The report concludes that there are indicators that the Jordanian government did not provide adequate protections for these rights during the pandemic. 2 In the interim, assessment of general policies looked at: Jordan’s commitments in the allocation of external funding which referenced protections against corrupt practices; the report shows governmental economic aid packages without discrimination, yet the process of their dissemination lacked clarity and consistency in the policies. Efforts to address corruption related crimes continued during the pandemic. The government showed response to some of the issues linked to corrupt practices and which are particular to crisis situations such as COVID19. More generally, the Jordanian government has shown efforts to enhance digital communication with the public and private sectors establishing multiple online platforms to provide access to information and enable communication with government officials. Lastly, the report shows that Jordan has undertaken some efforts towards fulfilling its commitments under the London Anti-corruption summit of 2016, which mainly address corruption in the private-public relations. To advance such efforts, the executive branch put forth a number of draft legal amendments which would provide: better protections of asset recovery; endow the anti-corruption and integrity commission alongside the audit bureau with further powers and independence; establish new framework of public-private relations which would enable further transparency; and a new framework for the prosecution of illicit enrichment which responds to international standards on the subject matter. Other positive efforts include participation in international committees and dialogue, and steps towards further innovation in the governmental sector. In practice, the public-private dialogue in crisis management as well as the governance of support packages for the private sector were deemed relatively weak, and little information is available as to public procurement decisions during the pandemic. Nonetheless, no evidence shows discrimination in the allocation of support funds or other services provided to the private sector in response to the crisis