Law in the Service of Legitimacy: Gender and Politics in Jordan (Critical Essay‪)‬

Law in the Service of Legitimacy: Gender and Politics in Jordan. 2009. Catherine Warrick. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited. 205 pp. $99.95 (Hardcover). Catherine Warrick's book, Law in the Service of Legitimacy: Gender and Politics in Jordan, uses the country of Jordan as a case study when considering the relationship between culture and political legitimacy. Specifically, Warrick examines how and why a legal system maintains traditional social practices that discriminate against women while simultaneously advocating for reform that affords women new rights and opportunities. The answer to this complicated balancing act is the need to cultivate a specific form of legitimacy for the government, in Jordan's case the monarchy, since other democratic systems are not in place or are limited.