Development and Uncertainty

I am sitting on a hill in Al-Salt, a small city neighboring Amman, overlooking Jerusalem, Nablus, and Bethlehem. If I drive two hours North of here, I would be in Dara’a, a Syrian city where most of the violence has been taking place since the beginning of the Syrian conflict. If I make a similar trip East, I would find myself in Iraq. This makes me wonder, what is the shape of development in cities surrounded by such instability and unpredictability? More importantly, how do we create and prepare institutions that can manage such challenges?

Pointing at Jerusalem

Jordan’s fast population growth, water scarcity, and economic difficulties are further exacerbated by the conflicts that surround it. Jordan sees a constant influx of refugees from its neighboring countries like Iraq and Palestine, and in the past year Jordan received refugees from Syria and Libya. That along with internal political, economic, and social struggles there is a lot of pressure on NGO’s, private, and public institutions to overcome existing and potential challenges against development.

While the prospects seem gloomy, I think that the Jordanian population will manage to recover from such political and humanitarian crises like it did during the several regional wars the country was affected by, namely the Gulf War, the War on Iraq in 2003, as well as the different conflicts between Arab and Israeli armies since 1948. I find that here, the population’s resilience against political and economic shocks, and their willing humanitarian response is admirable. More importantly, I think that Jordan like most of the Middle East has long faced uncertain challenges, which makes such unpredictability a little familiar. I will be hoping for the best.