'Divided they stand, divided they fail': opposition politics in Morocco

The literature on democratization emphasises how authoritarian constraints usually lead genuine opposition parties and movements to form alliances in order to make demands for reform to the authoritarian regime. There is significant empirical evidence to support this theoretical point. While this trend is partly visible in the Middle East and North Africa, such coalitions are usually short-lived and limited to a single issue, never reaching the stage of formal and organic alliances. This article, using the case of Morocco, seeks to explain this puzzle by focusing on ideological and strategic differences that exist between the Islamist and the secular/liberal sectors of civil society, where significant opposition politics occurs. In addition, this article also aims to explain how pro-democracy strategies of the European Union further widen this divide, functioning as a key obstacle to democratic reforms

The Democratic Imperative vs. the Authoritarian Impulse: The Maghreb State between Transition and Terrorism; Strategic Insights, v. 6, issue 6 (June 2005)

This article appeared in Strategic Insights, v.6, issue 6 (2005 June)Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Mechanization, Mobilization and the Market: Algerian Agricultural Policy in Transition

Algeria’s dependence on food imports has increased dramatically over the years from a state of complete self-sufficiency at independence in 1962 to 75% dependency today. If nothing is done to drastically reverse this massive condition of food dependence the country will become vulnerable to political, economic, and social pressures both from within and from without. Such pressures will inhibit Algeria’s ability to develop and industrialize in the manner and speed its people and leaders desire. A wide range of geographical, climatic, historic, structural, and political factors combine to provide an explanation. While agricultural development has long been restricted by problems such as erosion, adverse weather conditions, especially drought and flood, primitive methods of production, and underemployment, the decisive factors have had to do more with regime agricultural policies and programs than with the limitations imposed by nature and history. Three such policy orientations based on mechanization, mobilization, and the market are discussed and evaluated in this paper.Entelis John pierre. Mechanization, Mobilization and the Market: Algerian Agricultural Policy in Transition. In: Terroirs et sociétés au Maghreb et au Moyen Orient

Silent complicity : the international community and Algeria’s democratic façade ; [Literatur Projekt Elitenwandel]

John P. Enteli