Unravelling the adoption of youth quotas in African hybrid regimes: evidence from Morocco

Marta Garcia De Paredes,Thierry Desrues

doi:10.1017/s0022278x20000646

Abstract

ABSTRACTParliamentary youth quotas have been adopted by nine countries, mainly African autocracies. They have also attracted the attention of international organisations, which consider them indicators of democratic progress. Why were these quotas adopted? This article challenges the long-standing regime survival thesis by explaining quota adoption as the result of the convergent strategies of actors placed inside and outside the regime. It also provides new theoretical arguments that point to the transformation of representative linkages in hybrid regimes and shows how this is justified in the light of empirical evidence grounded on qualitative methodology and extensive fieldwork. By connecting the broader historical and socio-political context where youth quotas emerged – Africa – to the micro-level processes of quota adoption – based on the Moroccan case – this article provides a dynamic picture of how political representation is claimed and mobilised in contemporary Africa while shedding some light on the inclusive limits of quota policies.

Highlights

Research on youth politics in Africa has been recently shaped by the emergence of massive social movements such as the so-called Arab Spring of or the Sudanese or Algerian protests of
This article has explored the adoption of youth quotas by non-democratic regimes in Africa through an in-depth case study based on the Moroccan experience
It has sought to contribute to the literature in three main ways. It has connected the emergence of youth quotas in Morocco to the spread of youth quotas in Africa while contextualising conditions that had turned young people into a political identity

Summary

Introduction

Research on youth politics in Africa has been recently shaped by the emergence of massive social movements such as the so-called Arab Spring of or the Sudanese or Algerian protests of. Apart from the political conflicts between youth wings and their party leaders, the generational gap played an important role in the emergence of representative claims (La Vie Eco ).

Results

Conclusion