Morocco [Ressource électronique] : a reformist monarchy ? / Mohammed Darif

Notes bibliogr.

This article argues that Morocco avoided revolution in 2011 because King Mohammed VI had already begun the long-term process of liberalizing the Moroccan state. This process began in 2004, when the king encouraged a state-sponsored inquiry into past governmental abuses of human rights. Then, in 2010, Mohammed began the process of transferring governmental decision-making authority from the central government to provincial governments. Although the mass protests that occurred in Morocco during 2011 were successful in inducing the king to accelerate constitutional reforms that devolved some of his power to the parliament, the king still retained his authority to appoint his preferred candidates to key ministries and remained in control of the army. Thus, Mohammed VI has created a process that is liberalizing the Moroccan polity but encourages controlled and gradual political evolution that avoids revolution. Within this evolutionary process, the king is still a fundamental aspect of the political system, relying on his symbolic political capital and Morocco's weak political party system to bolster his strength and weaken his political opponents