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22 Arab L.Q. 35 (2008)
Wasta in Jordan: A Distinct Feature of (and Benefit for) Middle Eastern Society

handle is hein.journals/arablq22 and id is 41 raw text is: Arab Law ...... Quarterly B RILL Arab Law Quarterly 22 (2008) 35-62 w w.brill.nl/alq Wasta in Jordan: A Distinct Feature of (and Benefit for) Middle Eastern Society* Aseel AI-Ramahi LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science Abstract Dispute resolution processes are culturally bound. They should reflect the parties' back- ground and culture. This paper shows that wasta is one way of demonstrating the funda- mental difference in perceptions and understandings between the East and West. Wasta means both the well-connected, personal intermediary-intervener and the process of inter- mediation-intervention. Wasta played a major part in the construction of the Kingdom of Jordan in the 1930s and 1940s, which explains its special status within contemporary Jor- dan. It is deeply rooted in Jordanian society and it informs transaction formation and dis- pute resolution in the country. Thus, any discussion about commercial arbitration in Jordan and the Middle East must be informed by wasta and its norms. There is no denying that dispute resolution mechanisms should be cultur- ally informed in order to achieve maximum success. They must reflect the parties' backgrounds and cultures. The perception of conflict and the way it is handled is very different from culture to culture and this is no less the case in commercial disputes. The parties to the most basic commercial contract cross many borders and are affected by much sensitivity. Professor Chase concurs, 'Dispute processes are in large part a reflection of the culture in which they are embedded; they are not an autonomous system that is predominately the product of insulated specialists and experts.'1 * This article is based on papers presented in the SLSA Conference at Kent University in April 2007 and the International Conference on Law and Society in 21st century at Berlin in July 2007. ' O.G. Chase, Law, Culture and Ritual: Disputing Systems in Cross-Cultural Context (New York: New York University Press, 2005), 2. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10. 1163/026805508X286794

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