The Brookings Doha Center\u00a0(BDC)\u00a0hosted a panel discussion on March 14, 2018 to examine ongoing socio-economic and political issues in the Maghreb region.\u00a0This event focused on Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia;\u00a0a separate event will be held on the Libyan conflict.\u00a0The panelists discussed key\u00a0developments in governance, socioeconomic challenges, Islamist\u00a0politics, and the role of the \u201cdeep state\u201d\u00a0that have occurred in these countries\u00a0since the 2010\/2011 Arab uprisings.<\/p>\n
The conversation included\u00a0Amel\u00a0Boubekeur, research fellow at\u00a0Ecole\u00a0des\u00a0Hautes\u00a0Etudes\u00a0en\u00a0Sciences\u00a0Sociales\u00a0and the\u00a0Ecole\u00a0Normale\u00a0Sup\u00e9rieure\u00a0in Paris;\u00a0Ma\u00e2ti\u00a0Monjib, professor of African studies and political history at Mohammed V University in Rabat; and Larbi Sadiki, professor in the Department of International Relations at Qatar University.\u00a0BDC Fellow\u00a0Adel Abdel\u00a0Ghafar\u00a0moderated\u00a0the event, which was attended by members of Doha\u2019s diplomatic, academic, and media communities.<\/p>\n
Abdel\u00a0Ghafar\u00a0opened the discussion with a key question:\u00a0seven years after the uprisings, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia continue to face the same challenges of marginalized youth, high rates of unemployment, and poor governance. Why have these states not been successful in addressing the demands from the 2011 protests?<\/p>\n
Monjib\u00a0began\u00a0with an introduction about the situation of Morocco and the importance of political history. He described the various periods of political openings and moments of repression to emphasize the fundamental problem of governance. He argued\u00a0that while Morocco is one of the most open systems in the Middle East and North Africa region, there is a stark difference between what is happening within Morocco and the view from outside.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0remarked on the recent example of former Prime Minister\u00a0Abdelilah\u00a0Benkirane\u00a0and the Party of Justice and Development\u00a0(PJD), the Islamist party currently heading the governing coalition in the country. In\u00a0the\u00a02016 elections, the PJD won, but its leader,\u00a0Benkirane, was blocked by political elites\u00a0when\u00a0he attempted to form a governing coalition. This led to his eventual resignation. In other words, while Morocco maintains the appearance of a vibrant political scene, including a parliament, various political parties, and a very active civil society,\u00a0its prime minister is unable to actually govern because ultimate power still remains in the hands of its monarch, King Mohammed VI.\u00a0Monjib\u00a0concluded his remarks by highlighting the socioeconomic nature of current protests in Morocco, especially those happening in the marginalized northern regions of the country.<\/p>\n
Amel\u00a0Boubekeur\u00a0underlined the politics of waiting in Algeria. Both the regime and civil society are waiting for change, but no one really knows when and how this will occur. She described an historical trajectory that included a period of revolution, crisis, and elite comeback. The failed revolution of 1988\u00a0remains an influential point in recent history.\u00a0The regime\u00a0is\u00a0resilient\u00a0because President\u00a0Bouteflika\u00a0came to power\u00a0promising\u00a0peace in the aftermath of a major crisis in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
She\u00a0highlighted the challenges of institution-building and protests that demand greater access to resources instead of revolution. She commented on the important role of the military, the crisis of succession, and the disillusionment surrounding elections. President\u00a0Bouteflika\u00a0has been in power since 1999,\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0survival\u00a0of his regime\u00a0has been\u00a0based on reconciliation policies, instead of on\u00a0transparent and legitimate foundations.\u00a0People\u00a0voted yes for peace\u00a0in Algeria. But the terms for peace\u00a0heavily favored the army.\u00a0The\u00a0reconciliation\u00a0has allowed for the military to survive.<\/p>\n
According to\u00a0Boubekeur, resource\u00a0rent has created more riots and demands\u00a0since 2010-2011. The more you give,\u00a0the more people\u00a0demand, and the more people\u00a0demand,\u00a0the more\u00a0dissatisfaction\u00a0there is. Algeria is the country that\u00a0demonstrates the extent to which\u00a0social\u00a0dissent\u00a0has not been eliminated; it has\u00a0only been moved outside official channels. There is high\u00a0dissent\u00a0and competition among cliental networks.\u00a0 Basic social protests asking for housing and electricity occur\u00a0on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
Larbi Sadiki\u00a0posited that we need to question the methodologies used to examine the Maghreb.\u00a0He brought up the potential for a democratization or social protest paradigm, but he\u00a0argued\u00a0that these represented dying and incomplete frameworks. Concerning Tunisia, he described it as a \u201chodgepodge\u201d between Algeria and Morocco. He\u00a0believed\u00a0that one of the most interesting aspects of Tunisia is that it functions as two societies; the other society is rooted in the margins. For him, a little bit of chaos is a good thing for Tunisia because it can be a driving force in creating a state. Similar to the other panelists, he stressed the question of governance, and especially the psychology behind it. Tunisia is in\u00a0a\u00a0process of trial and error.<\/p>\n
Sadiki described the role played by\u00a0Nidaa\u00a0Tunis, the current ruling party, and\u00a0Ennahda,\u00a0the Islamist party. He noted that Ennahda\u00a0gave up functioning as an opposition force in order to support the ruling state, and he articulated what he viewed\u00a0as a \u201cfetishism of elections.\u201d\u00a0He argued\u00a0that\u00a0Ennahda\u00a0remains the most organized of the parties, and groups from both the left and right side of the political spectrum are attempting to marginalize it.\u00a0 For him,\u00a0it\u00a0would be\u00a0a mistake\u00a0if\u00a0Ennahda\u00a0were\u00a0to bid for power. He went on to remark on the protest\u00a0movement and its lack of youth recruitment. Finally, he concluded with\u00a0some questions about the region\u2019s informal sector and why youth are so attracted to it.<\/p>\n
On the topic of foreign policy, all three speakers posited that the three countries have attempted to remain relatively neutral in the GCC crisis\u00a0and\u00a0have maintained a\u00a0relatively risk-averse foreign policy.\u00a0Algeria continues to insist on\u00a0the norm of non-interventionism;\u00a0Tunisia\u00a0maintains a propensity towards avoiding regional conflicts, though it is concerned about weapon smuggling from Libya;\u00a0and Morocco is shifting towards political and economic influence in Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-466966","event","type-event","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/466966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/event"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}