Wasta in Jordan:

Development summary

Aseel Al-Ramahi’s article in Arab Law Quarterly argues that dispute-resolution processes are culturally bound and should reflect the parties’ background and culture. It explains that wasta denotes both a well-connected personal intermediary-intervener and the process of intermediation and intervention; the institution played a major role in the construction of the Kingdom of Jordan in the 1930s and 1940s, remains deeply rooted in Jordanian society, and informs transaction formation and dispute resolution in the country. The article maintains that discussions of commercial arbitration in Jordan and the Middle East cannot proceed without taking wasta and its norms into account.