The Politics and Society Institute Launches a Comprehensive Study: Student Activism in Jordan as a Gateway to Political Modernization

On Monday, 10^th of November 2025, the Politics and Society Institute released a new study within its flagship initiative “Generation of Modernization,” which targets political engagement inside Jordanian universities. The study sheds light on student activism as a central pillar in advancing democratic transformation and political modernization.

Described as one of the most methodologically comprehensive studies conducted in Jordan in recent years, the report integrates historical and comparative analysis with extensive fieldwork. It draws on nine focus groups held with students from nine universities, a survey of 896 male and female students across eight universities, and in-depth interviews with experts and officials in higher education and political parties.

The research team was led by the Institute’s Academic Advisor and former Minister of Youth, Dr. Mohammad Abu Rumman, with contributions from researchers Mohammad Al-Amin Assaf and Omar Abu Anzeh.

From Global Movements to Local Experiences: A Historical Reading of the Evolution of Student Activism

The study begins by grounding its analysis in a historical genealogy of student movements worldwide since the nineteenth century. It traces the transformation of students from a dispersed social category into a political and societal actor capable of directly influencing public policy and shaping the public sphere. It highlights the key theoretical approaches that have examined student activism through the lenses of identity formation, political opportunity structures, and social mobilization. The study underscores that students operate both as an independent “social identity” and as an integral component of civil society-an intersection that grants student activism a renewed capacity for influence whenever supportive institutional, legal, and financial conditions are present.

A comparison of Western experiences shows that student unions with clear legal foundations, financial autonomy, and binding representative authority within universities tend to exhibit continuity and long-term impact. In contrast, models that lack a solid legal framework often devolve into symbolic structures or service-oriented bodies with limited mandate.

The study also notes a significant global shift in the nature of student mobilization: organization has become increasingly centered on issue-specific causes rather than broader ideological frameworks. Coalitions now form rapidly around concrete demands and dissipate just as quickly. Yet, the enduring “memory” of student activism-its accumulated culture, narratives, and learned repertoires-remains its most valuable asset. This collective memory lays the groundwork for future mobilizations and equips society with experiential and cognitive tools that can be reactivated in subsequent cycles of activism.

The Jordanian Context: Weak Institutional Autonomy Constrains the Effectiveness of Student Unions

Against this backdrop, the study shifts to diagnosing the Jordanian landscape on two levels: the institutional–legal structure on the one hand, and student life and power dynamics on the other. It concludes that Jordanian universities lack meaningful institutional autonomy from the Ministry of Higher Education, and that student unions are, in most cases, subordinated to the Deanships of Student Affairs with limited authority-restricting their capacity to represent students and influence strategic decision-making. According to the study, this reality has fragmented student activism across partisan affiliations, localized competitions, and sporadic protests, widening the gap between students’ aspirations for participation and prevailing university policies in the absence of national frameworks that organize student work and integrate it into the broader trajectory of political modernization.

The study further argues that the historical–legal trajectory of higher education in Jordan initially established a national university that played a pivotal role in building the modern state, before witnessing a wave of public and private expansion that produced a new geography of higher education. As the country enters a phase of “political modernization,” the need emerges for genuine university autonomy-manifested in representative mechanisms within boards of trustees that reduce the impact of direct appointments, in insulating academic and administrative pathways from politicization, in empowering accreditation bodies, and in financing universities in ways that balance quantity with quality while harmonizing internal bylaws with new constitutional and party-related rights.

Through such a package of reforms, the university can reclaim its natural role as a producer of knowledge, and the student can return to the center of campus life as an active political–civic agent rather than a passive recipient.

Shifts in the Student Landscape Since the 1990s: From Arab Nationalists and the Left to Islamists and Tribal Currents

One of the study’s most compelling sections analyzes the transformation of the student landscape since the 1990s. After the historical prominence of Arab nationalist and leftist currents, the scene shifted to a new duality: the Islamist current on one side, and tribal–regional currents on the other. The analysis shows that the Islamist current-despite oscillations during periods of political openness and closure-managed to adapt, preserve its organizational momentum, and maintain its accumulated experience. By contrast, tribal currents displayed strong electoral presence yet remained organizationally fragile and prone to rapid fragmentation. The study also documents the impact of this duality on negative phenomena such as campus violence in several peripheral universities, alongside intermittent attempts to introduce programmatic, nationally focused platforms to balance the Islamist discourse.

Regarding the relationship between student currents and political parties, the study traces a gradual shift from direct partisanship to relative autonomy, even among groups historically close to the Islamic Action Front. Student frameworks have become more rooted in their campus environments and less engaged in direct organizational alignment with the party. The study also records the activities of newly established parties since 2021, though many students associate these activities more with practices of electoral patronage than with building robust student constituencies-an association that has ultimately harmed rather than strengthened the image of political party work. Nevertheless, survey results reveal a gap between the more critical views expressed in focus groups and the broader survey sample, which showed less negative perceptions of parties and student elections-opening a potential window for rebuilding trust should new policies emerge that align more closely with student priorities.

The study devotes significant space to documenting the rise of independent student spaces outside traditional campus structures. These include “Diwan Fatima,” founded in the School of Engineering at the University of Jordan as a platform for cultural and intellectual dialogue centered on knowledge production; “Masari,” which develops participants’ social and educational skills; “Fastamsik” at Yarmouk University; the “Student Blog,” which monitors issues related to rights and freedoms on campus; and “Zoom In,” a team that evolved from an Islamist-oriented initiative into an independent group with a more open identity while maintaining a minimum conservative grounding. Despite their diversity, these initiatives reflect a younger generation’s thirst for free spaces of discussion and for flexible frameworks capable of circumventing administrative constraints and offering tangible intellectual, cultural, and rights-based value.

Geographical and Cultural Variations Across Jordanian Universities

The study highlights significant geographical, social, and cultural variations across universities. Student activism at the University of Jordan is more diverse and vibrant due to its broad demographic composition, whereas competition in northern universities is shaped more strongly by tribal and regional dynamics. Southern universities appear even more affected by these considerations, while private universities suffer from a clear limitation in student activity and ideological currents; some even resort to symbolic elections or uncontested appointments, undermining the culture of representation and accountability.

At the level of student unions, the study presents a clear structural diagnosis: the absence of a binding legal framework renders these unions largely procedural bodies subordinate to the Deanships of Student Affairs, with limited authority and symbolic influence over university decision-making. Financial and bureaucratic constraints further restrict their capacity to provide services and promote meaningful participation. The study notes that the recommendations of the Political Modernization Committee encouraged universities to advance student participation and conduct elections, but implementation remained uneven: some private universities avoided elections altogether, while others imposed restrictions inconsistent with the spirit of modernization.

The study proposes a practical “priority matrix” targeting three parallel tracks.
First, for student currents: formally registering student currents and granting them clear legal legitimacy and wider operating space; adapting electoral systems toward proportional lists to encourage collective action; building leadership, organizational, and negotiation capacities; and adopting internal regulations that institutionalize blocs and reduce personalization and ad hoc loyalties. The study also calls for transforming the prevailing culture of bloc formation toward programmatic, service-oriented-and even political-criteria, rather than confining it to tribal and regional considerations.

Second, on the relationship between student currents and political parties: the study outlines a spectrum of possible models, ranging from direct affiliation to full independence. It urges parties to adopt substantive agendas addressing campus and student issues and to work through grassroots engagement within universities rather than relying on seasonal electoral campaigns. Indirect relationships grounded in shared values and aligned platforms may allow strong, locally rooted student currents to emerge, without falling into the traps of electoral patronage or excessive organizational subordination.

Third, regarding university administrations, the government, and civil society: the study recommends linking student activities to the educational process through community service hours or by incorporating extracurricular engagement into academic assessments; expanding the margin for establishing clubs; and encouraging participation through tangible incentives. It also calls on relevant ministries and institutions-such as the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs and the Independent Election Commission-to deliver more substantive, realistic awareness programs in partnership with universities. This is especially vital given that nearly two-thirds of students admit to limited familiarity with party programs.

In sum, the study affirms that students lie at the heart of Jordan’s political modernization process, and that any genuine democratic transformation must begin at the university, the primary arena for political and social socialization. It is from this understanding that the “Generation of Modernization” project-implemented by the Politics and Society Institute in partnership with the Embassy of the Netherlands in Amman-seeks to translate knowledge into practical interventions across ten Jordanian universities. These interventions aim to enhance political awareness, develop dialogue and participation skills, and create discussion spaces and leadership platforms for young people aspiring to more meaningful public roles.

The study concludes with a notable methodological insight: student activism does not follow a linear upward or downward path; rather, it moves in waves of rise and decline. Yet the accumulation of its experiences and culture-combined with strong legal, representative, and financial structures-can transform universities into vibrant democratic laboratories and reconnect politics with young people’s everyday lives based on participation, responsibility, and agency. In this vision, student unions and currents are not peripheral features of campus life but cornerstones of a broader national project whose central premise is: modernization places the student at the heart of the political process.

This study represents a key component of the “Generation of Modernization” project implemented by the Politics and Society Institute in partnership with the Embassy of the Netherlands in Amman. The project aims to strengthen political participation among university students across ten Jordanian universities through targeted interventions designed to enhance political knowledge and build dialogue and participation skills, in alignment with the national political modernization process stemming from the recommendations of the Royal Committee to Modernize the Political System.

As the project’s knowledge foundation, this study seeks to understand the realities of student participation in Jordanian universities and to measure student attitudes in order to analyze the nature, directions, opportunities, and challenges of engagement-ultimately enabling more effective interventions that respond to the needs of Jordanian youth.