Instrumentalizing Arabism: Morocco and the Inter-Arab System

Abstract

ABSTRACT The changing contours of Morocco’s involvement in the inter-Arab system over nearly a century was largely instrumental. It was driven by both “realist” concerns and domestic political issues related to fundamental matters of regime legitimacy and societal cohesion, i.e. the very nature of Moroccan national identity. With the decline of Arabism’s political salience, and a monarch who preferred to keep a low profile in Arab affairs, Morocco’s relations with Arab Mashriq countries became increasingly devoid of traditional markers of Arab solidarity and brotherhood. Domestically, the emergence of the Amazigh factor led to Morocco’s collective identity becoming a renewed subject of contention.