## I. INTRODUCTION Recent political conditions represented by the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan depended on a reality that constitutes another challenge in achieving national stability in addition to various challenges that Jordan suffers from, and its attempt to adapt to all variables and different requirements, whether stemming from the internal or external environment, and drawing logical policies with the aim of creating Solutions in achieving the Jordanian future based on the constants and foundations of the political system and the humanitarian aspect. ## II. RESEARCH SUMMARY This research aims to study the effects that accompanied the Syrian refugee crisis on the various sectors in Jordan during the period (2010-2022), whether they were internal challenges, especially on the Jordanian labor market sector, or the increasing pressures on the infrastructure and economic resources, or external challenges with the international pressures it bears by providing Aids and grants are related to the policies of donor countries. The research also sheds light on governmental and local initiatives to mitigate the effects of the Syrian crisis, in addition to clarifying the value of grants and loans that Jordan received in bearing the burdens of hosting Syrian refugees. The research has been divided into an introduction and three main chapters and conclusion. The first chapter talks about the internal and external challenges and conditions in Jordan since the second Gulf War until before the Syrian crisis, and the second chapter deals with the negative effects on the internal level through researching the economic challenges on poverty, unemployment, health, and water. And security, and foreign affairs through a statement of aid, grants, and loans provided to Jordan, in addition to an explanation of the effects of the fluctuation of political stability in the Middle East region on Jordan from the beginning of the Syrian asylum until now. From the brunt of the crisis that the Jordanians are going through. ## III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The importance of the research is summed up in diagnosing the obstacles and challenges that Jordan faces in facing the Syrian refugee crisis, and the importance of the role of research in shedding light on these challenges in a way that contributes to supporting decision makers and benefiting them towards reaching solutions that contribute to addressing this crisis in a way that shows the extent of the results and the level of damage to the sectors different infrastructure, economy and even social security. ### a) Internal and external challenges to Jordan before the Syrian crisis ## i. Introduction Jordan is like the rest of the countries in the global community that are looking for political, social, economic and security stability in its society, which posed clear challenges in the process of building and the Jordanian presence, which was following its conditions and capabilities in the long term, and which Jordan strived to reach cases of stability varying according to circumstances internal and external that constitute a clear influence on the threat to its national and economic security in an attempt to overcome it and protect its entity. ## ii. External challenges to Jordan before the Syrian crisis The capabilities of the Jordanian state in terms of economic aspects are considered insufficient due to the lack of capabilities or wealth that can be based on in the process of consolidating economic development, in addition to the situation of the surrounding Arab countries, the most prominent of which is the effects of the Arab-Israeli conflict on it, and the deterioration of the Arab situation under the names of the unstable Arab Spring. To establish new political systems that came with a popular starting point that paves the way for an incomprehensible and clear Arab situation in the future. There is no doubt that the internal and external challenges that Jordan went through before the Syrian crisis are of difficult and harsh conditions, especially after the second Gulf War between Iraq and Kuwait, which led to clear divisions in the Arab ranks, especially after Jordan was considered a Gulf country that supported the Iraqi force in its war against Kuwait, even after clarifying the Jordanian position calling for an Arab solution to the crisis without the intervention of foreign forces, resorting to a conciliatory diplomatic option and not taking decisions that would condemn Iraq, with the aim of not expelling it and isolating it from the Arab ranks in a way that leads to an imbalance in the balance of Arab power versus Israeli power. However, with the repercussions of the Arab understanding of resolving the crisis and the entry of foreign forces into the Arab region, Jordan was unable to contain the crisis, which posed an economic and political challenge to it. This is due to the influx of Jordanian and Palestinian labor into the Jordanian territories, which led to an additional burden that drained its economic energies due to the conditions of unemployment, poverty and disability. Indebtedness, in addition to the circumstances of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which forced Jordan to absorb the huge numbers of Palestinian refugees in the war (48,67), and to absorb Iraqi refugees during the years of American intervention in Iraq and cases of political turmoil after its exit from the war in a way that is not commensurate with the size of Jordanian resources, and its loss of aid Arab Gulf and Jordanian labor remittances in resuming the economic development process. As for the political aspect, it should be noted that the collapse of the Iraqi force and the division of the Arab ranks led to a development at the level of the Arab-Israeli conflict through the absence of Arab forces such as Iraq as a force confronting Israel and the intervention of foreign forces and their survival until now in the Arab Gulf, which ended its regional role in the region and limited it to the hands of America. Supportive of Israel, in addition to its indirect control of Iraqi oil wealth, which supported the Jordanian economy in the absence of Gulf aid. Thus, Jordan will be in the face of the State of Israel, which increases the burden of the Jordanian state in protecting its entity from the danger of achieving the Israeli expansionist ambitions that seek the so-called Greater State of Israel, and its indications for the establishment of the so-called alternative homeland based on Jordan accepting Palestinian refugees and ending their claims to the creation of a Palestinian state. As a result of these circumstances, Jordan found itself in front of an American leadership seeking to impose its power on the Western and Arab world, which called for the necessity of finding a just and comprehensive peace in the Arab region in which Israel would be a major part. International and regional changes in the region, in which the principle of peace with Israel was approved, until secret negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis were announced, which ended in the signing of an agreement between the two parties, followed by the signing of the Washington agreement that includes ending the state of hostility between Jordan and Israel. One of the most prominent aspirations that Jordan aimed at through the treaty was to put an end to the Israeli expansionist ambitions in Jordan, and to try to solve the effects of the Iraqi-Kuwaiti crisis in a rational and clear manner with the developments of the new international life, so as to allow Jordan to provide a stable atmosphere to overcome the internal economic crisis. ## iii. Jordan's internal challenges before the Syrian crisis Based on the political and economic conditions that Jordan went through after the second Gulf crisis and the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty, followed by the death of King Hussein, and the accession of King Abdullah II to power, Jordan found itself facing new data and assumptions that it had to confront at the internal and external levels, and facing huge economic challenges, the most prominent of which is unemployment And poverty and indebtedness. As for the economic situation in Jordan, Jordan's basic national wealth is limited, in conjunction with the impact of political events that made it dependent on creating unstable economic investment climates. Accordingly, we will present these challenges in general and their impact on the Jordanian economy: ### Unemployment The multiple imbalances witnessed by the Jordanian economy since the implementation of the economic reform system in 1989, which led to an unprecedented exposure of its financial reality due to the small size of the local market, the weakness of the economy, the scarcity of foreign investments, the high size of the public sector, and the reliance on foreign and local labor to perform some work. vital sectors such as construction, agriculture and industry, which directed Jordanian labor towards the public sector. With the return of Jordanian and Palestinian labor from the Arab Gulf following the second Gulf crisis, Jordan stood before the challenges of finding job opportunities for them, in addition to the scarcity of resources and the lack of available job opportunities. Despite that, Jordan is one of the developing countries that has achieved an achievement in terms of human wealth by developing it and making it efficient in the local and regional market, due to the development of the education sector. (37.1./.) of the total population, and (3.8./.) their age is over 65 years and over, and the remainder falls in the age group from 15 to 64 years, i.e. (59.1./.) This category is the one that provides society with the workforce, which led to a rise in the total dependency ratio, that is, the ratio of those of working age to those outside the working age, and the reason for this is due to the increase in the proportion of young people due to the high birth rate and the increase in the proportion of those attending schools. Which in the future constituted a crisis in increasing the unemployment rate after 10 years, with the entry of the older age group (the youth group) into the labor market, which exceeded the economic growth rates with the increasing demand for energy and water, and the increasing poverty segment, as the size of the labor force was estimated in Jordan for the year 2007 with about (1.3./.) million people, which is expected to reach (1.9./.) million in 2020. On the other hand, we find that the percentage of women's participation in the labor market is in increasing proportions, which makes the market narrow for males, because her work involves a social intellectual belief in her society encouraged by the emergence of women's freedoms and rights that the international community has called for in recent years. Among the important factors that affected the increase in the unemployment rate is the influx of Jordanian, Palestinian and even Iraqi labor into the Jordanian labor market due to the previously mentioned political circumstances. Poverty There is an unclear understanding in the definition and methods of measuring poverty, which is due to the difference between the studies related to this field and the different geographical regions in which it was applied. Therefore, the concept of poverty in Jordan is centered on two types, the first (extreme poverty and natural poverty). The second is by obtaining the lowest level of his natural needs, including housing, food and clothing. In 2004, the Jordanian government adopted an index to measure the poverty rate called the poverty line index. By looking at the poverty report in Jordan for the year 2010 issued by the Department of Statistics, the results showed that the poverty rate in Jordan amounted to less than one percentage point (0.32%), which is less than the target value that was set in the Millennium Development Goals report of (3). 3%, and natural poverty reached (14.4%). The causes of poverty in Jordan are due to several factors, including: 1. Unemployment 2. high cost of living. 3. Low level of income. 4. Increasing population growth in a way that exceeds the ability of the family to bear its support, with a stable monthly income 5. The role of the political factors surrounding Jordan, which pushes investors to exit their investments to other countries with more stable political conditions, which reduced job opportunities. 6. Slowing economic growth. We also point out that material poverty is directly related to two main factors, which are the average per capita income and the distribution of income. Poor workers in the private sector than the public sector. In addition to a report published by the Department of Statistics in July 2010, it shows that about $57\%$ of the total number of poor people in the Kingdom, amounting to 781 thousand people, are below the poverty line. its total population. Jordan has made continuous efforts to reduce the phenomenon of poverty in terms of adopting development policies and programs and increasing social solidarity in cooperation with the private sector, civil society institutions and international organizations. However, the economic and political conditions that Jordan went through were difficult and did not achieve the desired goal except in a relative and slight decrease in poverty. Especially due to the difficulty of coping with external financial obligations and the inability to pay off debts. Accordingly, and because of the crowding out of Syrian refugees in the private sector and their receiving income less than what the Jordanian worker demands, the poverty rate in Jordan has increased even more burden on This increases the burden on the income of the Jordanian citizen through the imposition of new fees and an increase in prices, which covers the state of government deficit in subsidized spending. #### CHAPTER II ### a) Internal and external challenges to Jordan after the Syrian crisis ## i. Preface The events of the Syrian crisis began in mid-March 2011, when demonstrations broke out in several Syrian cities, demanding that the Syrian regime grant freedoms and release political detainees from prisons, then followed with time the ceiling of those demands gradually increased until it reached the point of calling for the complete overthrow of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad from power. Then the manifestations of these protests developed into open sit-ins in the major squares in those cities, in which they were exposed to more repression and violence at the hands of the Syrian regular forces, which caused, successively, the emigration of thousands of Syrians to seek refuge in neighboring countries. With the development of the crisis, the defections in the regular army began to increase until it was announced the establishment of a Free Syrian Army to confront the Syrian regular army of Bashar al-Assad, where military confrontations began on a limited and small scale until it gradually expanded to reach the level of direct battles by the end of 2012. Like the rest of the neighboring countries, Jordan has received thousands of Syrian refugees on its lands, a large part of them entered into camps near the Jordanian-Syrian border, and the rest of them lived in the homes of Jordanians in various governorates of the Kingdom. International relief organizations provide them with the requirements of a safe life, including food, housing and education, until Their capabilities exceeded the limit that kept pace with their increase, which made Jordan in the internationally affected ranks due to the impact of asylum due to the great pressure on various sectors such as education, transportation, water and electricity in a way that exceeds its capabilities. ## ii. Who is a refugee The Director of Cooperation and International Relations at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that it falls under the clause of the 1951 Convention relating to the status of a refugee, which is considered the official document that defines his rights, duties, and obligations incurred by him to the country hosting refugees, that a refugee is: - He who is subjected to persecution because of his race, religion, political affiliation, or social groups Or because of his political views, in addition to the wars and the refugees' fear of staying in their country and wanting to flee to other countries. According to impartial studies, the cost of hosting one refugee is about 2,500 dinars annually, and the United Nations and donor countries bear the bulk of it. The status of a refugee also applies to everyone who holds a card of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which has taken charge of protecting him and preserving his rights until his voluntary return to his country from which he left. In Jordan, there are four camps for Syrians in addition to the Zaatari camp, which are the Emirati-Jordanian camp (Murajeb al-Fuhud), the Azraq camp (Mukhaizen West), the Garden camp in Ramtha (in the north of the country), and the Cyber City camp. More than one million and 300 thousand Syrians live in Jordan, of whom 750 thousand Refugees who entered the Jordanian lands before the Syrian revolution by virtue of lineage, intermarriage and trade. Official statistics issued by the Camps Affairs Department of the Ministry of Interior showed that the number of Syrians in Jordan before and after the crisis is approximately 00,000, which is more than $10\%$ of the population of Jordan. And because the political and intellectual premises of the Jordanian state emanate from the reality of the Islamic faith that seeks to achieve Islamic unity and cooperation, and the principles of the Great Arab Revolt that called for its pan-Arabist orientations, and Jordan's connection with the Arab nation in history, reality, and a common future. It was necessary for Jordanians to bear the burdens and pressures of the Syrian refugee crisis, despite the scarcity of natural resources, by securing assistance in all its material and moral forms through the various voluntary governmental and non-governmental competent authorities. The High Commissioner for Refugees in Jordan stated that it had coordinated in cooperation with the Jordanian government such as The Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of International Cooperation and Planning, the Ministry of Housing and Transport, and the Directorate of Syrian Refugee Affairs, in addition to nongovernmental organizations such as the Jordanian Hashemite Charitable Organization, the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development, the Jordan River Foundation, and the Noor Al-Hussein Foundation, a joint work team in all sectors to help refugees by providing basic services from Housing and food, in addition to providing health services, necessary relief supplies, financial assistance and protection, the financial burdens of which are borne by the United Nations and donor countries. ### b) The first axis ## i. Internal challenges to Jordan and the Syrian crisis a. Introduction The political situation of Syrian asylum has imposed clear challenges on economic resources, in addition to the exposure of infrastructure and natural resources to increasing pressures. Jordan suffers from a financial deficit in its annual budget that makes it seek to solve it internationally by appealing to the international community to find out the effects of what the Jordanian government spends through its official bodies. And informal in securing the services provided to them, water and energy..., in which Jordan's attention was drawn to the donors' conference on Syria, which was held in London on February 4, 2016, with the aim of increasing funding for humanitarian efforts in Syria and by providing increased support to its neighboring countries, with a focus on Creating job and educational opportunities for refugees and residents of host communities alike. Accordingly, we will present these challenges as follows: First: economic challenges Jordan suffers from a historical fiscal deficit that is mainly due to fundamental distortions in the macroeconomy stemming from the inability of local revenues to cover the country's total expenditures, despite entering into structural correction programs that have corrected many of its imbalances. The global financial crisis and the popular movement in the region and Jordan led to the need for governments to provide support for many commodities and fuels. Among the challenges it also faces is the high unemployment rate, especially among young people, which is close to $32\%$. They are graduates of the educational system from schools, technical and vocational centers and universities. The capabilities of the economic system are limited to securing 55,000 job opportunities compared to 100,000 job opportunities, a large part of which is generated by the construction and services sector. Which migrant workers go to. We also point out the great challenge represented in the persistence of the state's general budget deficit, which, according to the indicators of the 2015 Budget Law, amounts to about (1.82) billion dinars out of the total budget amounting to (8.1) billion, or $22\%$ of the total budget and (6.5) $\%$ of the gross domestic product, which indicates that the budget depends on aid and grants, which will lead to an increase in public debt levels, which has reached an unprecedented increase of 23 billion Jordanian dinars, which threatens security and economic and social stability. Accordingly, the Syrian asylum in Jordan imposed itself on a difficult economic reality by the entry of Syrian labor into the Jordanian market, which crowded out Jordanian labor because of their lower wage levels, instead of the great pressure that came on weak economic resources that do not meet the needs of the Jordanian state in terms of energy and water sources. The Jordanian Ministry of Labor indicated that the Syrian asylum had a negative impact on Jordanian employment, at a rate of $4\%$ working in the construction sector and $23\%$ working in the wholesale, retail and repair trade sector, while $6\%$ of Jordanians work in the construction sector and $18\%$ in the wholesale trade sector and Retail and reform, in which 150,000 job opportunities were lost as a result of the Syrian worker replacing the Jordanian worker until 2016. Second: - Energy challenges Jordan is a non-energy-producing country that relies on imports to provide it, which costs the state treasury increasing financial obligations over the years that it needs to move the various sectors and their multiple purposes, and in order to show the reality of energy consumption in Jordan, we will review a table showing the amount of energy consumption since 2011 Until 2014, that is, before the Syrian crisis and beyond. Table No. (1) The amount of energy consumption from 2011 to 2014 Sector 2011 2012 2013 2014 Domestic 5548 5126 6265 2580 Industrial 3445 3461 3541 3877 Commercial 2269 2427 2415 2358 Water pumping 1939 1955 2067 2257 Street lighting 334 305 291 316 Total 13535 14274 14588 15388 Sectoral distribution of electric energy consumption (GWh) Third, social challenges Jordan has witnessed a social reality of varying strength over the years by observing the social life associated with poverty experienced by Jordanians with the high cost of living, to comparing the social situation after the Syrian refugee crisis to Jordan, in the total assistance that was provided by local, regional, specialized and international charities has been affected. Directly with the presence of Syrian asylum, which negatively affected the percentage of aid that was provided to poor Jordanian families, and to rectify this situation, the Jordanian government stipulated an agreement with charitable institutions to allocate $20\%$ of the volume of aid for Syrian asylum to poor Jordanian families, and despite this measure, the assistance provided to Jordanian families remained In shrinking and retreating, this aspect has put the most sympathetic segment of the Syrian refugees, who are the poor, in direct confrontation with asylum, which has raised the level of sensitivity and apprehension to a degree that amounts to rejection of Syrian asylum. Especially with the calls of many international and Arab civil society organizations to contribute to the treatment that is provided to Syrians only, as the standard of living of the Syrian refugee family has become much better than the standard of living of the Jordanian citizen living in the areas inhabited by refugees. We also refer to the state of popular dissatisfaction with the crowding of Syrian workers into the labor market in an illegal and organized manner because of their charging of lower wages, which has caused the loss of work for many Jordanian families, in addition to their obtaining consumption support cards from donor agencies to suffice their monthly consumption compared to the intermittent aid on which they depend. poor Jordanian families. And it added to the state of general discontent experienced by the Jordanian society with the growing frustration that prevailed in anticipation of the surrounding Arab political events and their fear of the idea of an alternative homeland in return for the crisis in finding solutions to find a breakthrough in the Arab crises, especially the Syrian one. As for the education crisis, the number of Syrian students studying in government schools has reached about 145,000 students, who are treated like a Jordanian student. The Ministry has established schools at a cost of $600 million to meet the needs and requirements of accommodating this unorganized flow, in addition to appointing and training large numbers of students. To deal with the increasing numbers, as the cost provided to them amounted to 250 dinars annually, and the support provided to them by international organizations does not exceed 38% of the total cost of hosting them, which indicates a financing gap of 62% borne by the state budget, in addition to the presence of 190 thousand students waiting to enter schools In the future, the Ministry of Education has also converted 98 public schools to the two-shift system, and will work to convert 100 other schools to accommodate the numbers of new students. In addition to the social challenges, there is the risk of increasing the rate of beggary and child. ## IV. CONCLUSION Jordan has faced great political and economic challenges since the emergence of the Jordanian state until now, in which its forces have focused on facing these difficulties with the presence of basic pillars, the most important of which was the approach of the Hashemite leadership in dealing with all surrounding circumstances, whether internal or external. The Jordanian political system has also taken successful steps in enhancing security and stability on Jordanian lands and steadfastness in transmitting the message of the Great Arab Revolt in order to embrace its principles aimed at containing Arab hope for Arab unity and solidarity over the years, which has considered containing Syrian refugees as part of its message despite the lack of Jordan signed the Convention on Political Asylum advocated by the United Nations in 1951. Jordan also lives in difficult economic conditions due to the scarcity of resources and wealth, which made it affected by the Syrian crisis in a clear way, which was clarified through the presented research, which negatively affected many vital sectors in it, a burden in the state treasury, an increase in indebtedness, and an increase in the budget deficit, in addition to the damage to the commercial sector and trade. Foreign Ministry, which was crossing from Syria to Turkey towards Europe due to the decline in land transport. Despite the negative effects that were associated with the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan, there are some positive signs that have benefited from it, especially those related to the increase in demand for commercial goods and services, as well as the unprecedented flow of foreign aid from donor countries. The presence of the Syrian refugees has revived the commercial movement in many of the Kingdom's governorates, as the demand for food commodities increased in general, in addition to the high quality of the services provided and the goods, as the competition in the local market pushed to raise the level of the commercial and industrial sectors, not to mention the experience of the Syrian labor, especially in The food industry sector, which dictates to those in charge of the Jordanian economy the need to take advantage of the opportunities available from the presence of the Syrians on its lands by attracting investors from them and promoting small and medium industries, and benefiting from the grants and loans that were provided and will be provided to Jordan in developing targeted plans and programs to get out of the negative effects Which the crisis brought about, and realizing the available opportunities to contain any subsequent problems at all levels and sectors, in addition to developing and creating new production and job opportunities to solve the problems that Jordan suffered from before the emergence of the Syrian crisis. The aspiration to hope for a breakthrough in the Syrian crisis at the present time depends on the policies of the superpowers and their political and military interests, in addition to everything that develops in the global arena, whether Arab or foreign. Therefore, the effects of the Syrian crisis on Jordan will continue, and may multiply at times or may stabilize in light of the current political situation., which will focus on its results in the near and long future.

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