Policy Paper: Local Governance in Jordan Reveals a Structural Gap Between Institutional Representation and Developmental Effectiveness Within the Local Administration System

The Politics and Society Institute has released a policy paper titled “Local Administration Between Form and Function: Where Does Impact Falter?”, examining the state of local governance in Jordan within the broader context of political and administrative modernization. The paper explores the persistent gap between the institutional structure of local councils and municipalities on the one hand, and their actual capacity to generate meaningful developmental and service-oriented impact on the other.

The paper argues that Jordan’s local administration system continues to face structural imbalances that hinder its transformation into an effective model of local governance, despite its central role in the national modernization agenda and its intended function in strengthening public participation, improving service delivery, and promoting balanced regional development across governorates.

It emphasizes that the core challenge lies not merely in the existence of elected local councils, but in the extent to which these councils are genuinely empowered to perform effectively through clearly defined mandates, enhanced fiscal autonomy, and stronger governance, planning, and accountability mechanisms. Such reforms are essential for shifting from a traditional service-delivery model toward a developmental local governance framework capable of responding to citizens’ evolving needs.

The paper highlights a notable decline in local election participation over the past decade, with turnout falling from approximately 43–45% in the 2013 elections to around 30–31% in 2017, before stabilizing at roughly 29–32% in the 2022 elections. This trend reflects declining public trust in local councils and weakening civic engagement.

Financially, the paper reveals that first-category municipalities allocate nearly 78% of their expenditures to current operational costs, compared to only 22% for capital expenditures. This structural imbalance prioritizes operational survival over developmental investment and significantly limits municipalities’ ability to implement projects with direct and lasting economic impact.

The paper also documents municipalities’ heavy dependence on central government transfers, weak self-generated revenues, growing debt burdens in some municipalities, unstable funding sources such as fuel tax revenues, inefficient collection systems, and large volumes of unrecovered dues. Collectively, these factors undermine financial sustainability and constrain long-term developmental planning.

According to the paper, municipalities’ developmental role remains largely limited, with most municipal functions concentrated on basic daily services such as sanitation, road maintenance, and public utilities, while their engagement in local economic planning, investment attraction, productive project development, and leveraging regional comparative advantages remains weak.

Additional challenges include limited digital transformation, uneven levels of technological modernization across municipalities, weak adoption of smart city concepts, insufficient oversight and monitoring tools, the absence of measurable implementation plans, rising energy and maintenance costs, underutilized municipal assets and land, fragmented relationships with public service providers, and weak institutional cooperation among municipalities.

A major component of the paper focuses on political parties as a structural entry point for redefining local representation. Rather than viewing parties as a secondary feature, the paper argues that integrating political parties into local governance could fundamentally transform local competition from an individualistic, service-driven model into a programmatic, policy-based model centered on measurable public agendas. This shift would redefine local councils from service intermediaries into policy-producing governance institutions, strengthen institutional accountability, link electoral performance to assessable political programs, and establish sustainable channels of engagement between citizens and local councils beyond election cycles. In doing so, it addresses the structural roots of declining trust and participation.

The paper further advances a series of structural recommendations that move beyond conventional administrative reform toward a broader reconstruction of Jordan’s local governance system. These include deepening effective decentralization through clearer redistribution of powers between the central government and local councils; expanding fiscal independence through diversified local revenues, digitized tax collection, and reduced operational expenditures; and adopting participatory budgeting mechanisms to directly involve citizens in local spending priorities.

It also proposes the creation of a technical and financial municipal union framework to strengthen inter-municipal cooperation, improve the implementation of large-scale projects, and reduce debt burdens. Additional recommendations include restructuring the Cities and Villages Development Bank to enhance municipal influence over resource management, embedding smart city frameworks, establishing specialized municipal risk and crisis management units, restoring key developmental authorities such as public transportation oversight, and reorganizing financial and regulatory relations with electricity and water companies.

Together, these reforms aim to transform municipalities from limited service providers into developmental, investment-oriented local governance institutions capable of generating sustainable growth, strengthening spatial justice, and translating Jordan’s national modernization agenda into tangible outcomes for local communities.

The paper concludes that reforming local governance is no longer a secondary administrative matter, but a national imperative directly tied to the effectiveness of governance, the rebuilding of trust between citizens and the state, and the achievement of equitable development. It stresses that strengthening local councils requires moving beyond their traditional service role toward broader developmental, economic, social, and democratic functions, positioning them as foundational pillars of Jordan’s state modernization project.

This publication reflects the Politics and Society Institute’s “Think and Do” approach, which seeks to bridge policy analysis, public debate, and decision-making by diagnosing the structural challenges facing local governance and presenting practical, debate-ready alternatives that can help convert modernization pathways into citizen-centered public policy.

To access the full paper, please click here.