Moroccan Monarchy Research Articles

Gavin Maxwell in Morocco and Algeria with Margaret Pope and Ahmed Alaoui: public relations networks, anti-imperialism, and travel writing in the era of decolonisation

ABSTRACT This article asks how Gavin Maxwell, famed Scottish nature-writer and otter-keeper, author of Ring of Bright Water, emerged from a background of European colonialist adventure-writing to become a clandestine agent for the FLN Algerian independence movement in 1961, and then, in The Rocks Remain (1963) and Lords of the Atlas (1966), to advance a positive portrait of the newly independent Moroccan monarchy and, in the latter work, a condemnation of French colonialism. Using published writings and unpublished archival documents, this article examines Maxwell’s career as a travel writer in Iraq, Morocco, and Algeria, in the context of recent historiography on the global public relations networking of Moroccan and Algerian anticolonial movements. Through his relationships with British journalist-activist Margaret Pope and the Moroccan monarchy’s press services head and Minister of Information and Tourism, Ahmed Alaoui, Maxwell became, if only briefly and partially, a part of North African anti-imperialist outreach networks developed to cultivate global public opinion. In Maxwell’s case, his recruitment as a literary supporter was more of a success for the Moroccan monarchy than for the Algerian FLN.

2021 A. Owen Aldridge Prize Winner “A Nonpeaceful Coexistence”: The Plight of 1960s Bilingual Literary Journals in Morocco and Israel

ABSTRACT This article compares two literary enterprises preoccupied with the fate of bilingualism under budding national independence: Souffles-Anfas (Morocco, 1966–1971) and Eked Poetry Quarterly (Israel, 1960–1971). The second has received surprisingly little academic attention, whereas the first has gotten plenty of such attention, often referring to it as a fully bilingual project—an approach the author contests. The two journals were each part of a greater political and cultural endeavor that challenged the national-linguistic discourse in Morocco and Israel, either by rebelling against the Arabizing Moroccan monarchy or by refusing to adhere to the Zionist Hebrew exclusivity.

The Moroccan Monarchy and the Construction of Social Representations

This article argues that the Moroccan monarchy’s past political projects seek to perpetuate social representations and monarchial rituals. Moreover, the monarchy started with primitive strategies such as radical repression to maintain these representations. Meanwhile, through socio-historical changes, the Moroccan monarchy has been remarkably dynamic in adapting to the new social realities. This explains why the monarchy has reconstructed social representations. Thus, the resilience of the monarchy is not only due to its authoritative features, but in fact, due to the cultural foundations of authoritative relationships that exist in the Moroccan society as well.

Brief Synopses of New Arabic Language Publications

Brief Synopses of New Arabic Language Publications

Crafting a ‘liberal monarchy’: regime consolidation and immigration policy reform in Morocco

ABSTRACT This paper demonstrates that Moroccan immigration policymaking is intrinsically tied to the monarchy’s authoritarian consolidation agenda. Drawing on archival research and 87 semi-structured interviews conducted between 2011 and 2017 with Moroccan high-level civil servants, international and national civil society representatives, the paper dissects power dynamics among state and societal actors involved in Morocco’s 2013 immigration reform. The analysis shows that immigration policy liberalisation not only emerged out of Morocco’s autocratic political structures – a dynamic I call the ‘illiberal paradox’ – but at the same time consolidated them. In particular, the Moroccan monarchy used the 2013 ‘liberal’ immigration reform to pursue three interrelated goals: (1) to perform Morocco’s human rights commitment on the world stage and the regime’s responsiveness to domestic pressure for political reform, (2) to consolidate the monarchical institution within Morocco’s state apparatus and (3) to (at least partially) co-opt Moroccan civil society for humanitarian migration management, thereby silencing dissent in other arenas. At the same time, however, the analysis reveals that the regime consolidation strategy and the King’s portrayal as a ‘liberal’ monarch did not cancel out deeply rooted dynamics among and between state and civil society actors, which required both sides to adapt their cooperation or resistance strategies. Ultimately, the paper showcases that immigration politics reflect the power dynamics within and the legitimation strategies of the Moroccan monarchy. Immigration policy research thus offers a privileged vantage point from which to analyse broader political regime dynamics.

Morocco and Transition to Democracy: The Enduring Struggle

The occurrence of the dual unforgettable incidents namely ‘Cold War’ between the two superpowers, the United States and the former United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) and fall of the Berlin Wall, Moroccan authorities consolidated what could be seen as “fundamental background” of the democratization process. With the help of modernity, Moroccan monarchy has been able to incrementally install a systematic equilibrium that could match the contemporarily modern democratic style. The authorities, however, focus on political and civic organizations. The flexible nature of this nation coupled with absolute amenable behaviour to embrace democracy as a new style very much help in keeping the kingship system on the stance at least for now and time to come. This has become clear during the popular political revolts of 2011 when Moroccans in large numbers demanded modifications and changes instead of toppling down the ancient system at whole. Islam reached Morocco somewhere during the first century of the Hijra (migration), and since that time, the kingship remains the style of leadership in the country until today.

Are Monarchies Exceptional to the Arab Uprisings? The Resilience of Moroccan Monarchy Revisited

AbstractWith the onset of the Arab uprisings at the end of 2010 and the emergence of popular demonstrations that raised the issue of crises of legitimacy across the Arab states, the literature on democratization in the Middle East and North African (MENA) studies has taken on new dimensions recently. One of the primary theoretical debates that has surfaced in the post‐2011 era has revolved around on whether or not the demonstrations will lead to regime change or increased authoritarianism in the MENA region. One of the crucial developments of the Arab Spring has, then, been the overthrow of some long‐standing rulers like Ben Ali of Tunisia and Mubarak of Egypt, as well as the questioning of authoritarian regimes by the masses. The public protests submerged some Arab republics, but monarchies found ways to overcome the public outcry through containing the opposition. This paper, therefore, takes the monarchy of Morocco as a case study with the aim of analyzing the methods and regime‐survival strategies the regime has employed to sustain itself and consolidate power in the post‐2011 Arab uprisings era. Additionally, the role of the Justice and Development Party as an emerging threat in the postdemocratization era, and the changing nature of the party’s relations with the palace, will be addressed.

A Study on Democracy Metaphors in Moroccan King Mohammed VI Inaugural Speeches

This study analyzes democracy metaphors used in Mohammed VIs' speeches at the opening of the parliamentary session from 2003 until 2014. Mohammed VI has ruled Morocco since 1999. Many studies have uncovered the role of metaphors as influential devices used in politics. However, in the Moroccan context, studies related to metaphors and politics have received little attention so far. Politicians encounter challenges as they address their audience such as the need to convince them of their views, to gain the trust of their analysis and to give psychological realities to their abstract concepts.
 The Moroccan monarchy has ruled Morocco for centuries. More than three hundred and fifty years of monarchy rule has marked the history of Moroccan society. The monarchy was able to adapt to the sociopolitical changes that the Moroccan society has known. This rule was the work of multiple factors and strategies that the monarchy has followed. One of them is the use of metaphors as a communication strategy.
 The aim of this paper is to reveal the contribution of metaphors to the Moroccan political debate mainly by studying the king’s speeches addressed to the Moroccan nation. This research strives to uncover part of the Moroccan king’s strategy to win the hearts and minds of the moroccan people. This study provides an insight into the communication strategies used by the head of state of one of the third world regimes facing democracy transition and encountering political and economic challenges. They are based mainly on the use of the metaphor to interpret realities and design future roadmaps.

Moroccan foreign policy after the Arab Spring: a turn for the Islamists or persistence of royal leadership?

ABSTRACTThis article explores the power balance between the Moroccan monarchy and the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) particularly within the field of Foreign Policy, in order to determine the extent to which the foreign policy decision-making process has changed since the 2011 constitutional reforms. More specifically, it investigates how the limited duality between the king and the government works in practice, beyond the legal text. Our contention is that both the revisited architecture as well as the implementation of the 2011 Constitution minimise the agency of the government and preserve the preponderance of the king and his entourage in matters of foreign policy. We examine this dynamic through a two-step analysis which, first, determines the patterns of Morocco's foreign policy with regards to its traditional allies in Europe and the Gulf and its growing relationship with non-traditional partners like China and, second, investigates whether these patterns apply to the kingdom's most recent foreign policy decisions in 2016 and 2017. We do this by undertaking an in-depth analysis of the kingdom's rapidly-changing relationship with Africa and Russia. This analysis allows us to closely examine and shed light on the main strategies of Morocco's foreign policy in a turbulent regional and international context; the central role of the king and the ambiguous decision-making process; and the relevance of new actors (technocratic and economic elites) and novel tools (economic and cultural diplomacies).

Facilitating Political Stability: Cohabitation of non-legalistic Islam and the Moroccan monarchy

Focusing on the role of non-legalistic Islam (Sufism and popular Islam), this paper aims to provide an explanation for the distinctness of Morocco defined by increasing political stability and decreasing group grievances, contrasting with the situation in other countries of North Africa. Based on fieldwork carried out in March 2015, this study employs segmentary theory and the “Governance of Religion” approach in constructing an analytical model explaining cohabitation between the Moroccan monarchy and actors of non-legalistic Islam. Results of the research reveal that 1) actors of non-legalistic Islam in Morocco, though representing a variety of organizational structures and political orientations, can be divided into two groups: traditional vs. reformed non-legalistic Islam. 2) This religious distinction is important politically. For example, actors of traditional non-legalistic Islam can provide social services in the Moroccan periphery or create a background for regional “religious diplomacy”. However, they are not able or willing to include members of the wider society. In contrast, actors within reformed non-legalistic Islam aim to mobi-lize new followers for political causes. 3) Consequently, the Moroccan monarchy seems to apply various governance tools in regulating or co-regulating these actors; these tools include, among other things, direct funding, the co-optation of leaders, and sanctions. Analysis shows that actors representing non-legalistic Islam are engaged in the social life of the country and that this engage-ment results in cohabitation with the Moroccan monarchy. As this paper argues, this cohabitation facilitates political stability and prevents an increase of group grievances.

The Rights and Freedoms of Moroccan Women: has the 2004 reforms benefited Moroccan Women?

Morocco has maintained its identity and adherence to the Islamic faith since before colonialism and after. As a result of such identity the Moroccan monarchy over the years developed the Code of Personal Status (referred to as the mudawana) which affected only the Muslim population. This type of family law was drawn mostly from Islamic doctrines with little or no participation of women. The mudawana has been criticised by many as being one-side and feminist groups have made numerous calls for a reformed mudawana that addressed the plight of women and to improve their status within the wider community. In 2004, the monarchy decided to reform the mudawana as a result of women’s groups pressuring the monarchy to do so. The 2004 reforms has the possibility of enhancing the rights of Moroccan women, for example, a wife is no longer legally obliged to obey her husband, contrary to a widely-held custom which regards obedience as an absolute duty of a Muslim wife, the minimum age for marriage for both parties eighteen years of age, including free and full consent. Polygyny has also been addressed. Although the 2004 version kept the concept of polygyny, there are severe restrictions to curtail this practice, for example, judicial authorisation is required as well as informing the current wife of the prospect. There are certain obstacles that seem to be hampering the full implementation of 2004 reforms which are discussed in this contribution.
 

Morocco: Modelling Stability in Turbulent Waters

<p>Morocco and Egypt both experienced similar socioeconomic challenges in the last decade, but the Moroccan monarchy has been able to address those challenges without prompting civil conflict or anti-government rebellions. This presents an interpretive problem for the political science literature that views socioeconomic trends as being primary indicators of political instability. This case study proposes a more nuanced, multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of Morocco’s political culture by mapping findings in historical and anthropological research on to a political process framework in order to explain the Moroccan regime’s stability in terms of its religious legitimacy. It concludes with an assessment of how this knowledge can be used by countries outside the Middle East North Africa region (MENA) to better partner with MENA countries in developing stable political cultures.</p>

The Moroccan Monarchy and the Islam-oriented PJD: Pragmatic Cohabitation and the Need for Islamic Political Secularism

This paper aims to analyze the political relationship between the Moroccan monarchy and the moderate Islam-oriented Party of Justice and Development (PJD), which has been in power since 2011. The research methodology involves an in-depth case analysis and relies on a substantial number of primary and secondary sources such as official speeches, official political statements, journal articles and newspapers. The study finds the relationship between the PJD and the monarchy inconsistent, similar to the PJD’s relationship with other political parties. The paper argues that adopting an approach based on an Islamic political secularism that considers Morocco’s specific political realities may ease tension between the PJD on the one hand and the monarchy and other parties on the other.

Morocco: the Promise of Democracy and the Reality of Authoritarianism

The survival of the Moroccan monarchy amidst the wave of protests that characterised the Arab uprisings did not come as a surprise to observers of the Kingdom. Despite the size of the protests in February 2011, demonstrators never demanded the fall of the monarchy and the king was never in danger of being dethroned. Once the King reclaimed political leadership through the launch of a constitutional reform, the protest movement faded and whatever challenge to the pre-eminence of the monarchy might have existed ended quickly. A number of explanations have been advanced for the survival of authoritarianism in Morocco, but they generally rehash conventional wisdoms about Moroccan politics that might no longer be as valid as they were in past. Less obvious factors, ranging from repressive practices to ‘de-politicisation through technocracy’ and from the complex impact of neo-liberal economics on social relations to divisions within the opposition, contributed to the survival of the monarchy.

Morocco: An Islamic Globalizing Monarchy within the Elusive Phenomenon of Arab Spring

Far from taking place in a vacuum, in Morocco the 2011 constitutional revision was assessed both from an internal political perspective and within the broader context of what has come to be called the ‘Arab Spring’. In this manner, the 2011 Moroccan Constitution has indeed marked an unprecedented change, declaring the State’s adherence to the protection of human rights, which are strictly related to the Western history of ‘secular constitutionalism’. Yet, in order to better understand the constitutional transition, one has to consider the religious characteristic of Moroccan monarchy which, on the other hand, makes it a prototype of a ‘globalizing monarchy’, especially within the context ofmena(Middle East and Nord African) region.The Moroccan constitutional transition can in fact be seen as a peculiar tool for taking into account endogenous and exogenous factors respectively. On the one hand, it allows us to investigate how an Islamic specific legal tradition interacts with some principles that represent the pillars of constitutional democracies and that, as such, have been universally recognised; at least in the West. On the other, the exceptionalism of ‘Moroccan spring’ lets us to evaluate how these very principles are contextualized in a peculiar context ofmenaregion; by which, for the same reasons, one can draw more general considerations concerning the relationship between the pressing process of globalization and post-colonial Muslim-majority States.

Defending Islamic education: War on Terror discourse and religious education in twenty-first-century Morocco

How does War on Terror discourse impact religious education curricula in Muslim societies? How do supporters of Islamic education defend the subject in light of intense local and international scrutiny? What do initial reforms to public school curricula suggest about the long-term impact of the War on Terror on the state's role in the transmission of Islamic knowledge? This article examines these questions in the case of Morocco, where in 2003, members of Salafia Jihadia bombed multiple sites in Casablanca. Following the violence, the Moroccan monarchy called for the reform of the religious field, singling out the country's Islamic education curricula as in need of renewal. Several constituencies resisted the call for reform, including Islamic education teachers and associations. Though they showed deference to the monarchy, they also argued that the curriculum did not cause violence, but rather ‘vaccinates’ youth against terrorism. Through interviews and archival research, this article reconstructs the defence of Islamic education marshalled by its supporters and assesses its impact on resulting curricula. I find that the Ministry of Education acted with deference to the Islamic education teachers' demands, accelerating reforms already underway, rather than rewriting curricula. Unexpectedly, the Ministry made more substantial changes to ‘secular’ school subjects. The Moroccan case suggests that War on Terror discourse influences educational policy in Muslim societies, though these processes are shaped by pre-existing reforms and the activities of local activists.

Walking Through the Sahrawi Refugee Camps with Judith Butler

This article considers the role that irredentist nationalist Moroccan and Sahrawi discourses have played in the current stalemate in the negotiations in the Western Sahara conflict. Despite this, Morocco has seen a series of revolutionary and reformist movements prior to and in the wake of the 2010 Arab Spring. Although these movements have often been outmaneuvered by the Moroccan monarchy, they have managed to force a realignment of forces as exemplified by the Moroccan 2011 Constitution. I draw on Judith Butler’s critique of identitarian discourses to suggest that women’s rights may be a productive platform for Sahrawi women to establish equally efficient coalitions with other women in Morocco, and work to break the current stalemate.

The Legitimacy Puzzle of Moroccan Monarchy and the Legislature

The Legitimacy Puzzle of Moroccan Monarchy and the Legislature

La question sociale aux marges des soulèvements arabes : leçons libanaises et marocaines

The 2011 uprisings revealed the exacerbation of a widely shared feeling born of socio-economic injustice in the region. The protesters’ demands for recognition of a right to decent living conditions and access to employment and public services did not “naturally” and spontaneously arise ; rather, they were part an older political history. In both Morocco and Lebanon, the movements born of the uprisings have expressed themselves in the interspace of dissident innovation and more routine demands for rights without spreading beyond a revived militant constellation. Embedded within two different types of capitalism – the “laissez-faire” of Lebanon’s merchant republic and the “state capitalism” of the Moroccan monarchy – the “social question” played an interesting role. Examination of the various ways in which social problems have been politically addressed in these contexts reveals the emergence of differentiated protection regimes authorizing the demand of rights via an array of actions. While not amounting to revolt, these actions influence forms of protest. ■

Expediency, Ambivalence, and Inaction: The French Protectorate and Domestic Slavery in Morocco, 1912-1956

This article examines how the French Protectorate in Morocco enabled a defining institution of social inequality to endure and adapt. Colonial policies and the norms and evaluative beliefs surrounding domestic slavery are probed to explain the lack of political will against, and the resilience of, slavery within twentieth century Morocco. Previously unpublished archival findings are used to reconstruct how the Protectorate's association with the Moroccan monarchy and slave owning elites entailed not only the suspension of the French ideal of liberty, but also the active management and manipulation of knowledge and representations of slavery. Discussion of Protectorate formation, and official controls of how domestic slavery was understood in response to anti-slavery pressures, reveals that adminis- trators remained faithful to the contradictions guiding initial colonial maneuvers to satisfy French and international abolitionist expectations while simultaneously maintaining this form of non-interference in elite Moroccan affairs. The article also considers ways through which the Protectorate accomplished the work of negat- ing domestic slavery. A vague deference to Islam via Muslim policy became a standard means of characterizing and approaching the institution; further ambiva- lence about slavery was reinforced through ongoing selective color-blindness entail- ing official non-recognition, manipulation, and regulation of blackness. Though French officials and Moroccan slave owners were of unequal powers and fre- quently divergent interests and spheres of influence, attention to the Protectorate's handling of the problem of slavery helps illuminate the ambiguous social history within which domestic slavery in Morocco was reframed into lessened significance and transformed, before eventually ending as an institution.