Political Risk:
Very High
Score:
17/100
Defence and Security Policy and Policy Transparency
Q1
25/100
Is there formal provision for effective and independent legislative scrutiny of defence policy?
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As a parliamentary monarchy, Jordan’s parliament, commonly referred to as the National Assembly, is bicameral, consisting of two chambers: an elected House of Deputies…
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Whilst there is evidence of Parliament debating some defence policies, the effectiveness of such debates remains questionable. The defence budget of 2018, for example,…
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There is no evidence of the executive or the military coercing or unduly influencing the Parliament to vote in their favour, yet there are…
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Q2
0/100
Does the country have an identifiable and effective parliamentary defence and security committee (or similar such organisations) to exercise oversight?
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The Jordanian Parliament has 20 permanent specialised committees, however, none of them are specialised in exercising oversight over defence and security [1]. These committees…
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because there is no defence and security committee in the Parliament [1,2]
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because there is no defence and security committee in the Parliament [1,2]
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because there is no defence and security committee in the Parliament [1,2]
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because there is no defence and security committee in the Parliament [1,2]
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because there is no defence and security committee in the Parliament [1,2]
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Q3
8/100
Is the country’s national defence policy or national security strategy debated and publicly available?
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Defence and security strategies are not generally publicly debated, particularly those relating to the armed forces or the security agencies. Executives sometimes speak about…
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because formal public debate around defence is non-existent [1,2].
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There is no formal consultation process around defence and security in Jordan [1,2].
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Some information around defence is available to the public, such as that of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology on Cyber Security [1].…
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Q4
17/100
Do defence and security institutions have a policy, or evidence, of openness towards civil society organisations (CSOs) when dealing with issues of corruption?
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There is no formal or informal policy that requires openness towards CSOs in the defence sector. However, the Armed Forces superficially engage some Civil…
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Civil Society Organisations are allowed to operate within Jordan however, they are burdened with taxations, and sometimes security checks over their activities. CSOs registration…
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There are many activities, meetings and trainings organised in collaboration with the defence sector. However, the defence sector as explained in Question 4A sometimes…
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Q5
75/100
Has the country signed up to the following international anti-corruption instruments: UNCAC and the OECD Convention?
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Q6
25/100
Is there evidence of regular, active public debate on issues of defence? If yes, does the government participate in this debate?
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Public debate around defence in Jordan is scarce, and is limited to academics, journalists, and opinion-formers, rather than CSOs. Jordan has several laws that…
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The Government’s engagement in public discourse around defence is limited to one-way communications, either through announcements, speeches or conferences. As discussed above, the Government…
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Q7
NEI/100
Does the country have an openly stated and effectively implemented anti-corruption policy for the defence sector?
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There is an openly and publicly stated anti-corruption policy, and it is applied to all governmental institutions. However, the policy spectrum for the defence…
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This indicator has not been assigned a score due to insufficient information or evidence. It is not clear if defence institutions have anticorruption action…
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Q8
42/100
Are there independent, well-resourced, and effective institutions within defence and security tasked with building integrity and countering corruption?
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There are ethics units in the armed forces and its subsequent agencies. These units have the mandate to provide guidance and training. Besides that,…
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The institutions/ units may be under the command of the defence and security institutions that they oversee. However, they cannot be shut down by these institutions…
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Staff are underprepared for such a job and fail to produce a plan to address corruption risks within their institutions. They lack the experience…
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Q9
NS/100
Does the public trust the institutions of defence and security to tackle the issue of bribery and corruption in their establishments?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. According to the Arab Barometer data from 2016-2017, 90% of Jordanians have ‘a great…
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Q10
0/100
Are there regular assessments of the areas of greatest corruption risk for ministry and armed forces personnel, and are the findings used as inputs to the anti-corruption policy?
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There is no evidence to support that the defence sector conducts corruption risk assessments in Jordan. In fact, the only entity that could possibly…
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because corruption risk assessments are not conducted in relation to defence [1,2,3].
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because corruption risk assessments are not conducted in relation to defence [1,2,3].
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Defence Budgets
Q11
0/100
Does the country have a process for acquisition planning that involves clear oversight, and is it publicly available?
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There is no defined process for acquisition planning in most of governmental departments and ministries in Jordan. However, research has shown that part of…
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because, despite the availability of the SIGMA/OECD corruption risk assessment of public procurement in Jordan [1], there…
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because, although Jordan has an Audit Bureau that is supposed to audit several governmental entities, [1] it…
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Q12
75/100
Is the defence budget transparent, showing key items of expenditure? And it is provided to the legislature in a timely fashion?
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General defence budgets are available to the public in Jordan [1] through the General Budget Department’s official webpage. However, available documents do not include…
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The general budget is presented to the legislature. In 2018, the legislature was able to approve the Government’s annual budget on the first day…
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Q13
0/100
Is there a legislative committee (or other appropriate body) responsible for defence budget scrutiny and analysis in an effective way?
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In Jordan, there is no committee or entity that scrutinises defence budgets. Whilst this could be included in the mandates of the Integrity and…
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because there is no committee with formal powers to scrutinise defence budgets [1,2,3]. The finance committee has…
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Q14
25/100
Is the approved defence budget made publicly available? In practice, can citizens, civil society, and the media obtain detailed information on the defence budget?
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The General Budget Department publishes the annual budget for the state of Jordan on its official website [1]. This budget includes defence budgets but…
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As explained above, the defence budget published online is lacking in detail, such as information around procurement/acquisition and disposal of assets [1]. However, the…
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There is very little information that circulates around security and defence issues in Jordan. In 2016, the Jordanian Armed Forces prohibited publishing news or…
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Q15
0/100
Are sources of defence income other than from central government allocation (from equipment sales or property disposal, for example) published and scrutinised?
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The official website of the Jordanian Armed Forces, under the Developmental Role section, lists several entities and companies that provide income to the defence…
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There is no institutional scrutiny over additional income of the defence forces. No governmental committee or organization scrutinize military state-owned businesses and semi-private entities…
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Sources of defence income other than those from central Government are not fully disclosed and are not accessible to the public. Furthermore, this lack…
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Q16
17/100
Is there an effective internal audit process for defence ministry expenditure (that is, for example, transparent, conducted by appropriately skilled individuals, and subject to parliamentary oversight)?
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There is an internal audit within the Ministry of Defence and in the office of the commander in chief. They edit, albeit irregularly, all…
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The Jordanian military expenditures are audited by the Jordanian Armed Forces internal auditors, and by personnel of the Ministry of Finance. In addition, the…
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There are no external bodies that scrutinize and oversee the armed forces expenditures. Although the Ministry of Finance have permanent auditors in the JAF…
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This sub-indicator has been marked as not applicable for several reasons: (1) there are no comprehensive audit reports, whether external or internal, around defence…
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Q17
0/100
Is there effective and transparent external auditing of military defence expenditure?
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There is no evidence that any external auditing organisations have included the armed forces or the Ministry of Defence in their activities [1,2,3]. There…
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This sub indicator has been marked as Not Applicable as there is no evidence of external audits to defence ministry expenditure [1,2].
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This sub indicator has been marked as Not Applicable as there is no evidence of external audits to defence ministry expenditure [1,2].
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This sub indicator has been marked as Not Applicable as there is no evidence of external audits to defence ministry expenditure [1,2].
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Nexus of Defence and National Assets
Q18
20/100
Is there evidence that the country’s defence institutions have controlling or financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resource exploitation and, if so, are these interests publicly stated and subject to scrutiny?
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There are no restrictions on defence institutions having financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resources. According to the official website of…
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There are no legal restrictions on the Armed Forces or the Defence Sector’s involvement in businesses relating to the country’s natural resources, and the…
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There are interest and exploitation of natural resources with huge revenues such as the dead sea chemics, however the government has taken no action…
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The Jordanian defence sector is transparent only in relation to declaring business and investment interests in the country’s natural resources [1], however, none of…
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Despite the fact that the Jordanian Armed Forces partially declares the investments and businesses it runs [1], none of these enterprises have been audited…
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Organised Crime
Q19
25/100
Is there evidence, for example through media investigations or prosecution reports, of a penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector? If no, is there evidence that the government is alert and prepared for this risk?
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There is a low likelihood that organised crime can penetrate the JAF or security sectors. There are stringent rules, checks, and controls that take…
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As there is no evidence or acknowledgement of the existence of organised crime penetrating the defence sector, the Government does not actively try to…
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Q20
0/100
Is there policing to investigate corruption and organised crime within the defence services and is there evidence of the effectiveness of this policing?
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There are several entities that could, potentially if mandated, act in a policing function to investigate organised crimes and corruption within the defence sector…
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This sub-indicator has been marked as not applicable, as explained in the previous sub-indicator there is no policing function to investigate corruption and organised…
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This sub-indicator has been marked as not applicable, as explained in the previous sub-indicator there is no policing function to investigate corruption and organised…
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Control of Intelligence Services
Q21
0/100
Are the policies, administration, and budgets of the intelligence services subject to effective and independent oversight?
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According to the list of ministries, institutions and authorities audited by the Jordanian Audit Bureau, the General Intelligence Directorate is included in the audited…
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This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because, as explained in the previous sub-indicator, there is not independent oversight over intelligence services in the…
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Q22
25/100
Are senior positions within the intelligence services filled on the basis of objective selection criteria, and are appointees subject to investigation of their suitability and prior conduct?
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The criteria for selection for senior positions within the intelligence sector in Jordan is unclear. Historically, the appointments of the chief of intelligence services…
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Whilst it is difficult to provide a definitive answer around bias in relation to the appointment and selection of intelligence personnel in Jordan, evidence…
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This indicator has not been assigned a score due to insufficient information or evidence. According to a former officer [1], the vetting process is…
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Export Controls
Q23
0/100
Does the government have a well-scrutinised process for arms export decisions that aligns with Articles 7.1.iv, 11.5, and 15.6 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)?
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Jordan is not signatory to ATT [1].
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Jordan is not signatory to ATT [1] and for this reason this sub-indicator has been marked at Not Applicable.
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As previously explained, Parliamentary oversight over the defence sector is almost non-existent, due to the lack of an effectual Ministry of Defence, [1] and…
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Lobbying in Defence
There is no framework for regulating lobbying activity in Jordan. In fact, research has demonstrated that there is no general framework regulating Government lobbying…
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This sub-indicator has been marked as Not Applicable, as Jordan does not have legislation that regulates lobbying in the defence sector, and thus assessing…
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This sub-indicator has been marked as Not Applicable, as Jordan does not have legislation that regulates lobbying in the defence sector, and thus assessing…
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This sub-indicator has been marked as Not Applicable, as Jordan does not have legislation that regulates lobbying in the defence sector, and thus assessing…
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