The decade of the 1920s was crucial in terms of the emergence of both state and regime in Transjordan. A defining moment came with the British decision to separate the mandates of Palestine and Transjordan; at last the periphery was to become a centre in its own right. From then onwards, state building took on a logic of its own. The establishment of public agencies and military forces created an administrative and coercive core. The resulting construction boom acted as an economic magnet and began to create vested interests for the existence of the state. Amman, once established as the capital, rapidly eclipsed other provincial centres as the focus of the emerging national politics. The British provided the international personality for the new Transjordanian entity.