In collaboration between Politics and Society Institute and the King Abdullah II Fund for Development, the book (On the Cusp of Change), which was published in presence of a superior group of politicians, reveals that the majority of current political parties suffer from structural deficiencies that prevent them to straighten the situations according to the new law.
The book which was authored by Mohammad Abu Rumman, Abdullah Aljbour and Wa'el Al-Khateeb, introduces an analysis to several variables in the study of parties, including Leadership and structure, social foundation, women and youth activities, political participation, geographical proliferation, financial resources and communication and medial capacities. Thus, the conclusion was that a few parties have high competence in the mentioned fields, while most parties are affected by "the inverted pyramid" phenomenon, as the party is centralized by leadership with severe deficiencies in the staff and the lack of social foundation.
The researchers presented a number of main results, including the limited parties that rotate the leadership process, the simplicity of the organizational structure of most parties, the deficiency of the majority of political parties in political work, and the accumulation of most parties in the capital, Amman.
"The launching of the book took place in an important period as we are witnessing a complete political modernization in line with the royal visions in the new centenary, in which the kingdom seeks to move to collective partisan work instead of individual work.", said Mousa Al-Maaytah, chairman of the board of commissioners of the Independent Electoral commission, At the announcement ceremony.
If we want to activate the true partisan work, we must encourage young people and reassure them of the importance of partisan work, party affiliation and even to select the appropriate party that fits their desires and thoughts, he added.
He also pointed out that the independent electoral commission was keen to launch the national campaign to enhance social participation which targets all voters, young people and women in particular, and was keen from the first moment on the approach of participation with civil society institutions concerned with youth and political work; therefore, the youth forum was launched in universities and targets more than two thousands of students with the aim of raising awareness of basic concepts as the rule of law, teamwork, communication skills and updated legislation.
He indicated that, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Crown Prince Foundation, the commission is working to train 1600 male and female teachers on the updated laws so that we can reach school students of the new voters with the aim of instilling the concepts and sentiments necessary to build a new generation that believes in the importance of political participation.
He stated as well that the study talks about the landmarks of the historical path of partisan work in Jordan, the institutional and leadership structures in these parties, and the determination of the geographical and political proliferation, movement activity, gender structure and partisan effectiveness for them to be an indicator of the partisan movement and the next stage.
The director of King Abdullah II Fund for Development, Sa'eb Al-Hasan confirmed that KAFD will continue to build effective partnerships with civil society institutes through affective projects that would enhance the participation of young people and women in political work.
He reviewed a series of projects launched by the KAFD earlier this year within the axis of awareness and education to contribute to strengthening national efforts aimed at enhancing political participation and the involvement in the electoral process.
The results and recommendations of the Royal commission to modernize the political system instituted a new path in the country that is set to transform political and partisan life into a qualitative leap after the approval of the electoral and parties laws and the constitutional amendments; said Azmi Mahafza chairman of the institute's board of trustees.
He added that what distinguishes this study is that it is an investigative field study based on reading the actual reality of political parties and has met the specifications of steady scientific research and used a theoretical analysis and field survey by a research team carefully selected and trained for this purpose.
The research team used many research methods to access accurate information, including official records of parties, reviewing social networking sites, focus groups, brainstorming sessions and others, he stated.
The author Mohammad Abu Rumman explained that the book based on field studies, implementation of more than 50 visits to parties, brainstorming sessions and focus groups, adding that the partisan scene will witness major changes during the coming period, within the stage of straightening the situations that ends in the middle of next year.
The author presented many major challenges facing the upcoming party forming process, including the challenge of building the social and popular base for political parties, the challenge of developing partisan speech and approaching the citizens and popular bases, internal cohesion and overcoming separations and personal considerations, financing and internal party structure.
It is worth to mention the study consists of an introduction, a historical narrative and five chapters. Each chapter includes a set of topics, whereas the historical narrative introduces a review and summary of the Jordanian partisan life in a hundred years, examines the factors of the development of partisan phenomenon and its transmission to the Emirate of Transjordan, displays the stages of development of partisan life, local and regional challenges and its repercussions on environment and the political action of the parties, and how partisan work contributed to accelerating the pace on independence, the establishment of the State of Jordan and the development of its political identity over the decades.
The first chapter examines the institutional and partisan structures of political parties, while the second chapter discusses the extent to which the parties respond to the spread within the governorates and the adoption of field plans that accelerate this spread by measuring the extent of their participation in the local, parliamentary and union elections.
On the other hand, the third chapter analyzes the age structure of political parties in Jordan, the rates of political representation of youth and women in the structure of parties, at the leadership level and at decision-making positions.
Last but not least, the fourth chapter monitors the state of media and political communication for parties and their capabilities in the traditional media, while the last chapter discusses the current partisan scene by researching the following questions: What are the features of the current partisan scene? How will the new legislation and policies change the life of the party? What are the challenges facing political parties in the transition process? And finally, what are the requirements, conditions and motives for shifting towards programmatic partisan governments during the coming period?