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12 implemented; now, current demands have gone beyond it. The king himself has expressed frustration many times over this, both in domestic speeches and in international appearances. When Fareed Zakaria asked him about the future of reform in Jordan in a World Economic Forum debate aired on CNN on February 7, 2010, the king volunteered the following answer regarding the reform process over the last ten years: "Sometimes you take two steps forward, one step back. There is resistance to change. There is a resistance to ideas. When we try to push the envelope, there are certain sectors of society that say this is a Zionist plot to sort of destabilize our country, or this is an American agenda. So, it's very difficult to convince people to move forward." The king faces a formidable task any time a reform process is initiated, as he must confront, address, or co-opt the traditional constituency of the regime. Finding a way of doing this- whether through attempting to arrive at a consensus among the different societal forces, changing the make-up of his coalition, substituting certain benefits to the traditional constituency with others, or convincing the political elite that the status quo 1s unsustainable-will determine to a large degree whether a serious reform process will ever gain traction. The various attempts to put economic liberalization in the country ahead of political reform did not succeed either. While it is easy to argue that citizens want bread before freedom, economic liberalization took place without the development of a system of checks and balances and resulted in the benefits of economic reform being usurped by an elite few. To the average citizen, neither bread nor freedom was attained. As a result, the public has come to view liberalization and globalization negatively. Economic reform must be accompanied by political reform, such that institutional mechanisms of accountability are developed to monitor excesses and ensure benefits are made available to all. Finally, no reform process can be effective without sustained HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_030071