| Summary: | The present thesis takes as its main object of study the features and solidity of U.S.- Jordanian relations in the 2000s. While the power disparity between the U.S.A, as the sole superpower in the current international system, and Jordan, as a small state, is undeniably huge, it is claimed that the relations between the two countries are rather power relations, especially during the unprecedented era of U.S. power and unilateralism during President G.W. Bush’s two terms. This thesis, however, argues that these relations between the two countries are better explained by attributing a level of a mutually agreed relative autonomy to the weaker side, Jordan. The thesis therefore uses the work of Ikenberry on U.S. liberal hegemony in its relations with its allies combined with some elements of small states’ politics in order to examine the dynamics and interactions between the two countries in more detail and accuracy, to assess the features of the relations between the U.S.A and Jordan in the recent historical and Middle Eastern context. To do that, the thesis explores three main issues that have shaped these relations in general and had extra weight in shaping these relations in the era of President G.W. Bush and King Abdullah II; these issues are the security cooperation between the two countries in the global ‘War on Terror’, the U.S. promotion of democracy in the Middle East and Jordan, and the tri-dimensional relations between Jordan, Israel and the U.S.A. The usage of liberal hegemony and small states’ politics in investigating these contemporary issues establishes the originality of this thesis by providing a more accurate and fresher interpretation of these relations, which adds new scope to our understandings of power relations in the Middle East. This usage of the theoretical framework allowed the thesis to discover unseen realities regarding U.S.-Jordanian relations in the 2000s in the sense of Jordan’s ability to manoeuvre and to avoid U.S. exigencies while simultaneously maintaining a strong alignment with the U.S.A.
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