“In the areas of human rights and fundamental freedoms, 2014 was a year of mixed results in Jordan. Influenced by regional developments, there was no tangible development on the freedom of the media, and the government did not take any steps to further strengthen the freedom of association or the freedom of assembly. The policy dialogue between the government and civil society organisations (CSOs) was not strengthened either. There was limited progress on the fight against ill-treatment and torture and on women’s rights. There was a clear setback in December, when Jordan cancelled its de facto moratorium on the death penalty and executed eleven people. “   This introduction was not issued by a Jordanian or an Arab human rights organization. It comes out of the office of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security policy.   This 13 page document tackles the issues mentioned above in detail and provides both criticism and praise for Jordan. It supports the efforts to pass a decentralization and municipality law as well as working on changing the electoral and party law. The report notes that Jordan’s freedom of media has retracted in 2014 as reflected by Freedom House’s ranking of Jordan as 155^th out of 197 countries. On the other hand the report praises the anti corruption efforts and notes that Jordan is ranked 55^th out of 177 according to the International transparency guide on fighting corruption.   The European Commission says the retraction of freedoms in Jordan has been influenced by “regional developments.’ Some have questioned whether these developments are the reason for the retraction or an excuse!   In the past Jordanian decision makers have explained the reason for the delay in political reform because of the absence of popular support for such changes. So for example the call for a more fair representation of the citizens in the electoral law was rejected because a certain segment of Jordanians rejects such a change.   But Jordan after the crime against its pilot Moath Kassasbeh is not the same Jordan as before. Is there any reform plan that the Jordanian government wants to pass that it is unable to carry out now? Will Jordanians today refuse any idea or legislation that their commander in chief would request? Reform requires a courageous decision by top officials and the acceptance of the public. The second part of this formula is present now. What we need is the courageous decision.   So repeat a reactionary statement that the people are not ready for democracy, reform and power sharing. They defend this statement by pointing out to the current parliament or even senior government officials within or outside the government as proof that reform should be delayed.   This logic is rejected for two reasons. Those in parliament or government or even opposition are the creation of the state and the way it works. Whatever a person plants they reap. Secondly, if we are to accept that we are people who are not ready for reform and democracy, the question that begs an answer is when will we be ready? Doesn’t a mature democratic process require us to plant, nourisher and sponsor human resources, and political parties that allow us to reach the time when we can say that we are mature enough to share in governance and decision making.   What we see on a daily basis is strengthening the patriarchal top to bottom system and we see no efforts at creating the kind of enabling enviorment that will begin and support a serious political, administrative and ideological reform process. The sudden panicky decisions and efforts are not enough. What we need is a well thought out medium and long term strategy that addresses these fundamental issues.   We can no longer use the justification that we are in a bad neighborhood and we have regional developments to explain the retraction in the reform process, otherwise we would loose the initiative and fall into a reacting to what others do. The reform process must be agreed to, clear and must be implemented with serious and unhesitant steps forward.