The power of the gift and the spirit of the tribe: how to win elections in Jordan

Since the liberalization of Jordanian politics in 1989, most parliamentary seats have been won by tribes. But how do they win elections? While scholars often emphasize the role of patronage, this paper—based on ethnographic fieldwork among campaign workers in southern Jordan—argues that while deploying patronage remains a central strategy, a tribe’s organizational capacity, sense of group solidarity, and internal politics can be equally decisive. By focusing on these broader aspects, it also becomes clear how electoral competition is reshaping tribes—democratizing their internal decision-making, shifting norms around women’s political participation, and even redefining what a tribe is in contemporary Jordan.