Jordan’s king doesn’t want to play dominoes

Jordan’s King Abdullah dismissed his government yesterday in response to growing protests against its economic policies. FP had previously listed Jordan as one of the country’s that might follow Tunisia in overthrowing their rulers, and this latest move shows that the monarch was equally concerned about the spread of the unrest that has engulfed Jordan.

The small cadre of Jordan-watchers in Washington has largely poured cold water over the idea that Jordan’s surprisingly resilient monarchy may be the next to fall. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s David Schenker and David Pollock note that the protests have yet to explicitly target King Abdullah and that the regime "appears to be weathering the crisis." Over at the Council on Foreign Relations, Robert Danin suggests that Jordan, and other Arab monarchies, are better positioned than their republican counterparts to resist the current wave of unrest.

But never say never. Following Ben Ali’s fall, plenty of commentators mustered perfectly legitimate reasons why the unrest could never spread to Egypt. Jordan’s Islamist opposition has already announced that it views the king’s replacement of his government as insufficient and has vowed to continue protests. As Egypt continues to boil, keep one eye on how events unfold in Jordan over the next few days.