The Regional Status of Jordan: An Analysis on the Notion of Small State

Although small states comprise the majority within the international system, their security and foreign policy experience are deemed relatively unimportant and thus ignored by the mainstream perspectives in International Relations. This article aims to analyse the status of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan within the Middle East regional system with a reference to the concept of “small state”. The first section focuses on the notion of small state and suggests an authentic definition of the concept. The piece, then, analyses the major sources of vulnerability and resilience of Jordan as a small state. The article aims to make two contributions to the current literature: Firstly, to develop a regional perspective for the definition of small state; and secondly, to show the outstanding advantages enjoyed by the small states that can eventually balance their weaknesses due to their size. Jordan is an ideal case to investigate the subject within the Middle Eastern context.