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Political Institutions, Political Parties, and the Islamist Movement in Morocco
- Syracuse University Press
- Chapter
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1 Political Institutions, Political Parties, and the Islamist Movement in Morocco The rule of the Moroccan Alaoui dynasty survived colonialism (French protectorate from 1912 to 1956) and subsequent independence. Its legitimacy is based on traditional, religious, and modern sources. The dynasty came to power in the seventeenth century, and it claims traditional religious legitimization with the title “Commander of the Faithful” and lineage with Prophet Muhammad. Scholars thus argue that there is a “century-old bond” and an “extraordinary religious and charismatic link between ruler and ruled” (Hermassi and Vanderwalle 1993, 21–23). Nevertheless, the Moroccan monarchy as a historically defined political construct depends on popular acceptance of its traditions and its durability (Leveau 1997, 97). As a consequence, the palace has aimed at modern legitimacy by building representative institutions and using Parliament and political parties as instruments of elite control and renewal and as early-warning systems of trends in support and dissatisfaction.1 The palace has also promoted strongly the image of the supreme—and indispensable —arbiter of the political game. As Hassan II declared famously in a press conference in 1962, “The Constitution makes of Us an arbiter. . . . I am certain that many have said ‘The powers of the King are enormous.’ . . . I would say to them, to take a very simple example: ‘Imagine two football teams on a field, take away from the referee the power to whistle out and expulse a player, 1. On the ways in which political parties in the Maghreb serve their regimes to stay in power, see Willis 2002b and Zartman 1988. 2 | Islamist Opposition in Authoritarian Regimes and then gentlemen, play’” (quoted in Waterbury 1970, 146). Put more explicitly, the “manipulated” (Zartman 1988, 64) or “controlled” (Santucci 2001) pluralism of organized political forces in Morocco has been an important element of political power there. The rules of the game that prevail today are thus not some transcendental given (as the monarchy likes to portray it), but to a large extent an outcome of Hassan II’s divide-and-rule politics, skillful conversion of symbolic into real power, and, of course, repression.2 Political Institutions and Political Parties Decades of political pluralism and relatively developed political parties are a remarkable, distinctive feature of the Moroccan political system compared to those of other MENA regimes. Before the Islamists joined the electoral arena in the 1990s, two types of political parties had developed. The first consists of the so-called opposition parties. They have—despite considerable ideological differences—two shared features. Their roots and references lie in the nationalist movement’s struggle for independence, and until the 1990s they had a conflictual relationship with the monarchy. The most important proponents of this party type are the conservative Istiqlal (Independence) Party3 and the leftist Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP, Union socialiste des forces 2. During the protectorate, administrative institutions and infrastructure were greatly enlarged, helping to control territory and society after independence. As M. E. Combs-Schilling puts it aptly, “For centuries, the monarchy had been replete with meaning but weak in apparatus; the French colonial government had been replete with apparatus but weak in meaning. Post-colonial Morocco combined them” (1989, 292). 3. The Istiqlal Party was founded in 1944. It emerged out of the Committee for Action in Morocco (Comité d’action marocaine), an organization created in 1934 by a dozen nationalists. By 1943, the committee had about three thousand members. The Istiqlal soon evolved into a mass party with local cells, regional committees, a solid structure of framing and social mobilization (charity , journals, free schools), the instruction and political education of its members, and dues-paying membership. Between 1947 and 1951, the membership increased from fifteen thousand to one hundred thousand. By 1956, it had some two million supporters out of a total population of ten million. Moreover, it was supported by the country’s only trade union, which had half a million members by 1956. Membership in the Istiqlal remained limited to the urban areas, with only 25 percent of its [3.229.122.112] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 10:30 GMT) Political Institutions and Parties and the Islamist Movement | 3 populaires).4 Since 1998, these parties have been in government and by the late 2000s had largely lost their credibility as opposition forces and agents of change. The USFP, as the more programmatic of the two parties, suffered a dramatic electoral decline. The second type of political party encompasses pro-palace parties, in Morocco usually referred to...