​This paper examines the intersection between the state, as a modern social political entity, and the tribe, as a traditional social structure, focusing on the continued presence of the tribal structure within the political system, where kinship ties still play a prominent role in the allotment of political functions. This phenomenon was traced through several stages and eras, including the relationship between the Jordanian state and the local social groups upon the establishment of the state following the First World War, and, subsequently, the state’s relationship with the Palestinian constituent, whose loyalty wavered between the Jordanian state and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The paper then examines the role of the state in enshrining traditional identities, and the resulting coexistence and intermixing between traditional structures and the modern institutions of the state, such as the judicial and political systems. Lastly, the paper looks at the mechanisms the political regime adopted in order to guarantee its survival and persistence, including measures that contributed to social fragmentation, such as: the “single vote” electoral law, the fragmentation of electoral districts into smaller districts, the exclusion of the youth from substantive participation, the appointment of local leaders to be representatives of the state rather than of the people, the manufacturing of political elites, and the nurturing of nepotism and cronyism.