EXTERNAL EVENTS AND CIRCULATION OF POLITICAL ELITES: CABINET TURNOVER IN JORDAN 1946-198

This is a study of cabinet turnover and succession in Jordan since independence in 1946. The major thrust of this work is that cabinet turnover is affected by Jordan's relationships with other nation-states whether in the Middle East region itself or on a world-wide basis. The circulation of political elites and the background characteristics of elite members have been topics of study for long but, in this study, the interest is in what happens to specific members and subgroups of the elite, i.e., the Cabinet and Prime Ministers, as a result of the impact of external or environmental factors.;In order to be consistent and systematic in explaining the effects of environmental factors on the turnover of the Jordanian cabinets, a model was developed that considers the major external and internal variables and their effects on each other and on cabinet turnover. The argument of the model is borrowed from organizational theory that sees the environment as a source of uncertainty that affects the turnover of key executives. Cabinet turnover in Jordan was seen as a mechanism that is applied by the King in order to deal with different crises and hence to achieve political stability for the regime.