Aziz QAISSI | Ibn Tofail University (original) (raw)
Papers by Aziz QAISSI
The Concise Routledge Encyclopaedia of New Concepts for Interculturality, 2025
This chapter introduces the concept of ‘interculturality regimes’ as structured frameworks for ma... more This chapter introduces the concept of ‘interculturality regimes’ as structured frameworks for managing cultural diversity within societies and international orders. Interculturality regimes integrate regulatory mechanisms that shape cultural interactions, balancing inclusivity with governance imperatives. Drawing on revisited critical histories such as the Ottoman Empire’s code of Millet and the Lifan Yuan system of Qing China, the chapter highlights the political configuration of cultural diversity and its role in legitimising authority. It explores the dual processes of ‘interpellation’ and ‘counter-interpellation’, where dominant power structures and marginalised groups contest authorised forms of cultural expression. The chapter underscores the political dimensions of culture, illustrating how cultural beliefs and values underpin governance practices, power dynamics, and the governmentalisation of social relations.
Book Chapter in: Data Collection and Analysis in Scientific Qualitative Research, 2024
Thematic analysis has evolved as a prominent qualitative data analysis method, rooted in the rich... more Thematic analysis has evolved as a prominent qualitative data analysis method, rooted in the rich history of social sciences and, in particular, psychology. It stands as a cornerstone in qualitative inquiry, offering researchers a systematic approach to identifying and interpreting patterns, or themes, within qualitative data. This chapter seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of thematic analysis within the context of qualitative research, addressing its theoretical foundations, methodolog-ical considerations, and practical applications. It explores approaches to thematic analysis, including induction, deduction, and abduction, highlighting their distinctive characteristics and applications to qualitative data analysis. It also outlines key steps involved in conducting thematic analysis. Overall, this chapter aims to equip researchers, practitioners, and students with the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct rigorous and insightful thematic analyses of qualitative data.
Journal of Public Policy and Administration, 2024
Cultural policy is far from being a neutral facilitator of cultural production and consumption. C... more Cultural policy is far from being a neutral facilitator of cultural production and consumption. Contemporary cultural governance is profoundly influenced by the strategic, and often implicit, agendas and political projects of its key actors. Cultural policies, indeed, have evolved into an instrumental tool leveraged by governments to address broader policy issues and state interests such as education, social cohesion, economic development, and even diplomatic relations. This article examines the intersection of governance, policy, and discourse within the context of cultural policy. It argues that approaching cultural policy through discourse is essential for unpacking its foundational concepts, structural arrangements, and agents involved in its propagation. It explores the notion of cultural governance with an emphasis on the instrumental turn in cultural policy, which serves to advance specific political and economic agendas. Contemporary societies are characterised by a complex web of governance structures and cultural dynamics, where traditional forms of government are increasingly challenged by the evolving concept of governance. The transition from government-centric approaches to the broader framework of governance has sparked vigorous debate within mainstream disciplines such as political science, policy sciences, and public administration, but also in other disciplines such as Cultural Studies and cultural policy studies.
Arab Journal of International Law, 2022
The aim of this article is to explore the implications of the Order/Culture nexus in world politi... more The aim of this article is to explore the implications of the Order/Culture nexus in world politics as related to processes of othering and alterity formation. The contemporary international order brings together states, communities, and individuals with different ways of approaching the world. Meanwhile, it is inevitably hard to ignore the often sharply divisive shifts that penetrate the fabric of the global liberal order. This contestation surrounding the concepts of an international liberal order shows to what extent this contestation is not just about power transitions but reflects the conflicting narratives of the global-cultural, nationalist, ethnic, racial, historical, colonial, and religious. While stability in international politics is a defining element of how order-builders seek the constitution of political legitimacy, these contesting narratives present the global order with a legitimation crisis. This requires not only maximising material capabilities but also an aspiration to choreograph and organise cultural diversity into authorised forms of expressions, or diversity regimes. This article is particularly interested in how these diversity regimes are integral to the ways in which postcolonial orders prioritise and organise cultural differences in alignment with the established distribution of political authority. Analytic insights from the Constructivist and Post-colonial theory will help account for the discursive formations and representations of alterity and otherness, which I argue are another manifestation of diversity regimes. These formations rest upon a particular view of contemporary world order: the characteristic distinctiveness that drives interaction among actors, and which, in turn, constitutes different alterities: "ally," "rival," "friend," and "exotic."
Books by Aziz QAISSI
The Concise Routledge Encyclopaedia of New Concepts for Interculturality, 2025
This chapter introduces the concept of ‘interculturality regimes’ as structured frameworks for ma... more This chapter introduces the concept of ‘interculturality regimes’ as structured frameworks for managing cultural diversity within societies and international orders. Interculturality regimes integrate regulatory mechanisms that shape cultural interactions, balancing inclusivity with governance imperatives. Drawing on revisited critical histories such as the Ottoman Empire’s code of Millet and the Lifan Yuan system of Qing China, the chapter highlights the political configuration of cultural diversity and its role in legitimising authority. It explores the dual processes of ‘interpellation’ and ‘counter-interpellation’, where dominant power structures and marginalised groups contest authorised forms of cultural expression. The chapter underscores the political dimensions of culture, illustrating how cultural beliefs and values underpin governance practices, power dynamics, and the governmentalisation of social relations.
This book develops a critical approach to understand the role of cultural diplomacy in Morocco’s ... more This book develops a critical approach to understand the role of cultural diplomacy in Morocco’s foreign policy. It examines the possibilities and limitations of implementing the ‘cultural variable’ in the conduct of international relations through Soft Power practices. In an increasingly globalised world, the influence of culture in shaping international relations stems from its importance to cut across foreign publics’ values and world views, and its potential to humanise what politics demonises. The theoretical framework of the book draws upon the Social Theory of Constructivism which stresses the social dimensions of international relations and suggests that the way states interact has no reality outside the intersubjective understandings of one another.
Conference Presentations by Aziz QAISSI
Conference: 21st Century Morocco: Identity Manifestations in Art, Culture and Language: Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco, 2021
As a field of critical inquiry, Cultural Studies has engaged with the political primarily at the ... more As a field of critical inquiry, Cultural Studies has engaged with the political primarily at the level of cultural politics (the politics of producing and consuming culture) and has all too often neglected the implications of the dominant political culture (the culture of politics). Political culture, in this context, is used in reference to a set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments which give order and meaning to a political process (i.e., political knowledge). This knowledge encompasses political ideals, collective histories, conflicting narratives, and operating norms of polity, which thus provide the political system with its distinctive, underlying assumptions and rules (i.e., political behaviour). The present paper addresses this lacuna by exploring the implications of the dominant political culture in Morocco on the governance and management of culture and the arts. Recent policy developments in Morocco regarding the field of culture have revealed different challenges relative to the sort of administrative mechanisms and managerial practices that inform the implementation of cultural policies. These challenges mostly concern the extent to which cultural policy programmes (e.g., Cultural Morocco 2015-2021) are effective enough to fulfil their objectives.
A considerable part of the growing literature in cultural policy research has emphasised the role of the wider political culture in the formulation of the national cultural policy. The aim of this paper is to provide a critical understanding of the system of cultural patronage as a distinctive mode of governing the field of culture in Morocco. It shows how certain aspects of the political knowledge and political behaviour relate in an interactive blend of conflict and continuity. While the concerns of the current conference relate to the themes of art, culture, language, and Identity, the intention of this paper is to explore the duality of culture and politics in the context of current public policy changes as well as the processes and structures that are mobilised for the management of public culture.
The implications of the present paper in terms of theory and methodology are as follows:
The integration of cultural policy research into cultural studies
The inadequacy of textual analysis as a dominant approach in cultural studies to grapple with issues regarding the governmental intervention in the field of culture
The new policy dynamics are fundamental to the understanding of the relations between culture and power
A more operational definition of ‘culture’ should acknowledge the governmental instrumentalisation of and intervention into the field of culture
Conference: The Second International Doctoral Conference — Planning, Understanding, and Undertaking Research Projects: Tools and Methods (Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University - Faculty of Letters And Human Sciences Fez-Sais), 2024
Thematic analysis has evolved as a prominent qualitative research method, rooted in the rich hist... more Thematic analysis has evolved as a prominent qualitative research method, rooted in the rich history of social sciences and, in particular, psychology. Its emergence can be traced back to the early works of scholars such as Frederic Bartlett (1932) and Gregory Bateson (1972), who laid the groundwork for identifying recurring themes and patterns within qualitative data. However, it was the seminal contributions of Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke in the early 2000s that propelled thematic analysis into the forefront of qualitative research methodologies. Their influential papers, notably "Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology" (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and "Thematic Analysis" (Braun & Clarke, 2012), provided a comprehensive framework and guidelines for conducting thematic analysis across various disciplines. Since then, thematic analysis has gained widespread recognition and adoption in social sciences, healthcare, education, and beyond, owing to its versatility, accessibility, and rigour in uncovering meaningful insights from qualitative data. Thematic analysis, therefore, stands as a cornerstone in qualitative inquiry, offering researchers a systematic approach to identifying and interpreting patterns, or themes, within qualitative data. This paper seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of thematic analysis within the context of qualitative research, addressing its theoretical foundations, methodological considerations, and practical applications. It explores approaches to thematic analysis, including induction, deduction, and abduction, highlighting their distinctive characteristics and applications to qualitative data analysis. It also outlines key steps involved in conducting thematic analysis. Overall, this paper aims to equip researchers, practitioners, and students with the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct rigorous and insightful thematic analyses of qualitative data.
The Concise Routledge Encyclopaedia of New Concepts for Interculturality, 2025
This chapter introduces the concept of ‘interculturality regimes’ as structured frameworks for ma... more This chapter introduces the concept of ‘interculturality regimes’ as structured frameworks for managing cultural diversity within societies and international orders. Interculturality regimes integrate regulatory mechanisms that shape cultural interactions, balancing inclusivity with governance imperatives. Drawing on revisited critical histories such as the Ottoman Empire’s code of Millet and the Lifan Yuan system of Qing China, the chapter highlights the political configuration of cultural diversity and its role in legitimising authority. It explores the dual processes of ‘interpellation’ and ‘counter-interpellation’, where dominant power structures and marginalised groups contest authorised forms of cultural expression. The chapter underscores the political dimensions of culture, illustrating how cultural beliefs and values underpin governance practices, power dynamics, and the governmentalisation of social relations.
Book Chapter in: Data Collection and Analysis in Scientific Qualitative Research, 2024
Thematic analysis has evolved as a prominent qualitative data analysis method, rooted in the rich... more Thematic analysis has evolved as a prominent qualitative data analysis method, rooted in the rich history of social sciences and, in particular, psychology. It stands as a cornerstone in qualitative inquiry, offering researchers a systematic approach to identifying and interpreting patterns, or themes, within qualitative data. This chapter seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of thematic analysis within the context of qualitative research, addressing its theoretical foundations, methodolog-ical considerations, and practical applications. It explores approaches to thematic analysis, including induction, deduction, and abduction, highlighting their distinctive characteristics and applications to qualitative data analysis. It also outlines key steps involved in conducting thematic analysis. Overall, this chapter aims to equip researchers, practitioners, and students with the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct rigorous and insightful thematic analyses of qualitative data.
Journal of Public Policy and Administration, 2024
Cultural policy is far from being a neutral facilitator of cultural production and consumption. C... more Cultural policy is far from being a neutral facilitator of cultural production and consumption. Contemporary cultural governance is profoundly influenced by the strategic, and often implicit, agendas and political projects of its key actors. Cultural policies, indeed, have evolved into an instrumental tool leveraged by governments to address broader policy issues and state interests such as education, social cohesion, economic development, and even diplomatic relations. This article examines the intersection of governance, policy, and discourse within the context of cultural policy. It argues that approaching cultural policy through discourse is essential for unpacking its foundational concepts, structural arrangements, and agents involved in its propagation. It explores the notion of cultural governance with an emphasis on the instrumental turn in cultural policy, which serves to advance specific political and economic agendas. Contemporary societies are characterised by a complex web of governance structures and cultural dynamics, where traditional forms of government are increasingly challenged by the evolving concept of governance. The transition from government-centric approaches to the broader framework of governance has sparked vigorous debate within mainstream disciplines such as political science, policy sciences, and public administration, but also in other disciplines such as Cultural Studies and cultural policy studies.
Arab Journal of International Law, 2022
The aim of this article is to explore the implications of the Order/Culture nexus in world politi... more The aim of this article is to explore the implications of the Order/Culture nexus in world politics as related to processes of othering and alterity formation. The contemporary international order brings together states, communities, and individuals with different ways of approaching the world. Meanwhile, it is inevitably hard to ignore the often sharply divisive shifts that penetrate the fabric of the global liberal order. This contestation surrounding the concepts of an international liberal order shows to what extent this contestation is not just about power transitions but reflects the conflicting narratives of the global-cultural, nationalist, ethnic, racial, historical, colonial, and religious. While stability in international politics is a defining element of how order-builders seek the constitution of political legitimacy, these contesting narratives present the global order with a legitimation crisis. This requires not only maximising material capabilities but also an aspiration to choreograph and organise cultural diversity into authorised forms of expressions, or diversity regimes. This article is particularly interested in how these diversity regimes are integral to the ways in which postcolonial orders prioritise and organise cultural differences in alignment with the established distribution of political authority. Analytic insights from the Constructivist and Post-colonial theory will help account for the discursive formations and representations of alterity and otherness, which I argue are another manifestation of diversity regimes. These formations rest upon a particular view of contemporary world order: the characteristic distinctiveness that drives interaction among actors, and which, in turn, constitutes different alterities: "ally," "rival," "friend," and "exotic."
The Concise Routledge Encyclopaedia of New Concepts for Interculturality, 2025
This chapter introduces the concept of ‘interculturality regimes’ as structured frameworks for ma... more This chapter introduces the concept of ‘interculturality regimes’ as structured frameworks for managing cultural diversity within societies and international orders. Interculturality regimes integrate regulatory mechanisms that shape cultural interactions, balancing inclusivity with governance imperatives. Drawing on revisited critical histories such as the Ottoman Empire’s code of Millet and the Lifan Yuan system of Qing China, the chapter highlights the political configuration of cultural diversity and its role in legitimising authority. It explores the dual processes of ‘interpellation’ and ‘counter-interpellation’, where dominant power structures and marginalised groups contest authorised forms of cultural expression. The chapter underscores the political dimensions of culture, illustrating how cultural beliefs and values underpin governance practices, power dynamics, and the governmentalisation of social relations.
This book develops a critical approach to understand the role of cultural diplomacy in Morocco’s ... more This book develops a critical approach to understand the role of cultural diplomacy in Morocco’s foreign policy. It examines the possibilities and limitations of implementing the ‘cultural variable’ in the conduct of international relations through Soft Power practices. In an increasingly globalised world, the influence of culture in shaping international relations stems from its importance to cut across foreign publics’ values and world views, and its potential to humanise what politics demonises. The theoretical framework of the book draws upon the Social Theory of Constructivism which stresses the social dimensions of international relations and suggests that the way states interact has no reality outside the intersubjective understandings of one another.
Conference: 21st Century Morocco: Identity Manifestations in Art, Culture and Language: Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco, 2021
As a field of critical inquiry, Cultural Studies has engaged with the political primarily at the ... more As a field of critical inquiry, Cultural Studies has engaged with the political primarily at the level of cultural politics (the politics of producing and consuming culture) and has all too often neglected the implications of the dominant political culture (the culture of politics). Political culture, in this context, is used in reference to a set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments which give order and meaning to a political process (i.e., political knowledge). This knowledge encompasses political ideals, collective histories, conflicting narratives, and operating norms of polity, which thus provide the political system with its distinctive, underlying assumptions and rules (i.e., political behaviour). The present paper addresses this lacuna by exploring the implications of the dominant political culture in Morocco on the governance and management of culture and the arts. Recent policy developments in Morocco regarding the field of culture have revealed different challenges relative to the sort of administrative mechanisms and managerial practices that inform the implementation of cultural policies. These challenges mostly concern the extent to which cultural policy programmes (e.g., Cultural Morocco 2015-2021) are effective enough to fulfil their objectives.
A considerable part of the growing literature in cultural policy research has emphasised the role of the wider political culture in the formulation of the national cultural policy. The aim of this paper is to provide a critical understanding of the system of cultural patronage as a distinctive mode of governing the field of culture in Morocco. It shows how certain aspects of the political knowledge and political behaviour relate in an interactive blend of conflict and continuity. While the concerns of the current conference relate to the themes of art, culture, language, and Identity, the intention of this paper is to explore the duality of culture and politics in the context of current public policy changes as well as the processes and structures that are mobilised for the management of public culture.
The implications of the present paper in terms of theory and methodology are as follows:
The integration of cultural policy research into cultural studies
The inadequacy of textual analysis as a dominant approach in cultural studies to grapple with issues regarding the governmental intervention in the field of culture
The new policy dynamics are fundamental to the understanding of the relations between culture and power
A more operational definition of ‘culture’ should acknowledge the governmental instrumentalisation of and intervention into the field of culture
Conference: The Second International Doctoral Conference — Planning, Understanding, and Undertaking Research Projects: Tools and Methods (Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University - Faculty of Letters And Human Sciences Fez-Sais), 2024
Thematic analysis has evolved as a prominent qualitative research method, rooted in the rich hist... more Thematic analysis has evolved as a prominent qualitative research method, rooted in the rich history of social sciences and, in particular, psychology. Its emergence can be traced back to the early works of scholars such as Frederic Bartlett (1932) and Gregory Bateson (1972), who laid the groundwork for identifying recurring themes and patterns within qualitative data. However, it was the seminal contributions of Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke in the early 2000s that propelled thematic analysis into the forefront of qualitative research methodologies. Their influential papers, notably "Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology" (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and "Thematic Analysis" (Braun & Clarke, 2012), provided a comprehensive framework and guidelines for conducting thematic analysis across various disciplines. Since then, thematic analysis has gained widespread recognition and adoption in social sciences, healthcare, education, and beyond, owing to its versatility, accessibility, and rigour in uncovering meaningful insights from qualitative data. Thematic analysis, therefore, stands as a cornerstone in qualitative inquiry, offering researchers a systematic approach to identifying and interpreting patterns, or themes, within qualitative data. This paper seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of thematic analysis within the context of qualitative research, addressing its theoretical foundations, methodological considerations, and practical applications. It explores approaches to thematic analysis, including induction, deduction, and abduction, highlighting their distinctive characteristics and applications to qualitative data analysis. It also outlines key steps involved in conducting thematic analysis. Overall, this paper aims to equip researchers, practitioners, and students with the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct rigorous and insightful thematic analyses of qualitative data.