Exploring The Politics of Large Infrastructure Projects: A Case Study of Collaborative Governance Failure in the Amman Bus Rapid Transit 1

This paper explores the complex governance challenges underlying the contested delivery of Amman’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, drawing broader implications for developing contexts. The BRT, intended to upgrade Amman’s deteriorating transportation infrastructure, faced significant delays, construction halts, and stakeholder disputes despite public demands for improved transport. Through a diachronic timeline analysis of public documents and statements from 2009–2022, the paper traces how issues within policymaking culture and stewardship disrupted the BRT’s development. The analysis problematizes simplified narratives of project mismanagement, highlighting instead the political costs underlying transport policy failure. While the BRT reiterated management pitfalls found internationally, governance limitations in Jordan evidently amplified such challenges. The study explains the complexity of factors that disrupt large-scale infrastructure delivery, arguing that decontextualized policy borrowing and absent political stewardship fundamentally undermine project trajectory. Ultimately, it finds that strengthening collaborative governance and institutional capacity are instrumental in facilitating efficient infrastructure development in contexts facing similar constraints.