Democratisation in the Maghreb (original) (raw)
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After the 2011 Arab Spring, a pressing concern is to understand why some authoritarian regimes remain in power while others fall when confronted with similar difficulties. Earlier representations of the success of authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa generated common misperceptions concerning politically effective behaviour in the region. These views, shared by local autocrats and international actors alike, led them to propose ad hoc policy reorientations in response to a contagion of popular uprisings. In their turn, these policy responses directly contributed to the failure of authoritarianism and the production of democratic revolutions in several countries of the region. Such revolutionary options, although structured by the (lack of) opportunities for contestation present in each polity, are not predicable events as they depend on elite mis-assessments of the situation to be effective (as in Tunisia, Libya). Reciprocally, when reform pathways are made available by authoritarian regimes, contestation can be channelled into non-revolutionary political action (as in Morocco, Algeria).
New Wave of Democratization: The Case of Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions
Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Advanced ICT (ICAICTE 2014), 2014
In recent years, the world has witnessed a dramatic change in Middle Eastern political landscape with the collapse of several long-serving dictators from Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya. They were the former presidents of these countries who, in the unfolding of history, had been ousted by their own people from a massive revolution known as the Arab Spring. This event has raised a question among political scientists; whether it is a sign of the coming wave or the new wave of democratization. Therefore, this dissertation aims to identify the extent of the correlation between the countries involved in the Arab Spring, specifically the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, with the new wave of democratization. By revisiting the previous wave of democratization, this article will view closely the extent to which the factors that contributed to the Tunisian Jasmine Revolution and the Egyptian 25 January Revolution could serve as the new wave of democratization..
Morocco did not experience any radical/revolutionary change in 2011 and it does not seem to be following the conventional steps of the transition paradigm (Liberalisation, breakthrough, and consolidation). However, this situation does not necessarily mean the country is stuck with the status quo. It can be rather analysed as a third way of democratisation, referred to sometimes in the Moroccan political context as 'the Moroccan exceptionalism', and it is shaped by several factors that are specific to the Moroccan society, inter alia, the political culture, the prevailing value system, the nature of the party system, etc. In light of the above, the paper focuses on two interrelated aspects of the evolutionary democratisation process in Morocco: It analyses the history and origins of the current unprecedented cohabitation between the king and an Islamist chief of government, and the extent to which this cohabitation is likely to pave the way for a more democratic power-sharing. It also examines its implications for the practical functioning of the system (in terms of the emergence of a Moroccan specific polity, by focusing on, e.g., democracy-learning).
Degeneration and the demos in North Africa: towards a 'critical' study of democratisation
The Journal of North African Studies, 2023
This article frames the problematic explored in the Special Issue guest edited by Larbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh-- namely, the Maghreb and North Africa's 'crisis of democratization.' Across cases, the crisis is multi-layered, involving first, counter-revolution since the 2011 (and 2019) uprisings and revolutions; second, the breakup of states, particularly those mired in violence (e.g. Libya); and third, setbacks even among states that have to an extent transcended the democratic threshold (e.g. Tunisia). We lay the groundwork for localized and contextualized exploration of 'degenerations of democratizations' playing out in the region. This involves rethinking the teleological ambit of transitology studies as well as the 'reverse transitology' scholarship on democratic backsliding. We propose an alternative 'critical democratization' frame that emphasizes emancipation and attends to the demos. This people-centered approach is fitting for exploring democratization and its setbacks in the context of popular uprisings and revolution. It allows for investigations of local democratic learning and unlearning; local-global and local-regional interactions; entrenched socioeconomic and military structures and disparities; and popular forces of resistance (al-hirak) challenging democratic setbacks. Critical study of democratization necessitates case-by-case explorations probing regional commonalities as well as country-level specificities to investigate how 'degeneration' manifests in the Maghreb, North Africa, and the wider Arab region.
The Maghreb: Social, Political, and Economic Developments
Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 2007
Due to its geographical position, events in the Middle East, the Sahel, and Europe have consequential effects on the Maghreb (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia). Hence, recent economic, political, and cultural changes are more or less inspired or encouraged by those developments taking place in the surrounding environment. Together with Mauritania, the four countries founded in 1989 the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), which aimed at regional integration. Unfortunately, the UMA remains a distant wish; the conflict over Western Sahara and the political differences between Algeria and Morocco have prevented the UMA's advance.
The Tunisian Revolution: An Opportunity for Democratic Transition
IAI Working Papers, No. 11|02 (January 2011), ISBN 978-88-98042-01-2, 2011
Owing to its macroeconomic achievements, for decades Tunisia projected an image of stability to the world and distinguished itself from other Arab countries for its progress in the areas of economic growth, health, education and women’s rights. This widely held view of apparent stability was shattered on January 14, when President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country after high levels of unemployment and inequalities resulted in widespread chaos and social unrest. Events in Tunisia raise sharp questions regarding the country’s current situation and its future prospects and, more generally, the often taken-forgranted sustainability of many regimes of the Middle East and the policies of the European Union towards the region.
This paper argues that the experience of aborted democratization of Algeria in 1991-92 heavily influenced political strategies and ideologies of the Islamist movements and other political actors in Tunisia and Egypt, which was particularly evident during the Arab Spring. The autocratic secular governments learned that organizing democratic elections is too risky as it could lead to Islamist victories. For the same reason, the Western powers became reluctant to support democratization in the Maghreb. This led to entrenchment of Egyptian and Tunisian autocracies. On the other hand, the Islamist movements in the region learned that they have to unambiguously accept the tenets of democracy if they plan to reach the power through the ballot box. This led to significant ideological moderation of Tunisian and Egyptian Islamist movements in comparison to their Algerian counterparts. This moderation helped these movements achieve electoral victories after the breakdown of autocratic regimes during the Arab Spring. In consequence, it would be very difficult to understand politics in the Maghreb without taking into account how the Algerian experience affected the region’s history after 1992.