Of Monarchs and Islamists: The ‘Refo-lutionary’ Promise of the PJD Islamists and Regime Control in Morocco

Abstract

The article engages the literature on political parties in semi-authoritarian regimes to examine the state and Islamists’ strategies in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab uprisings in Morocco. The pace of state reforms and the regime’s institutional flexibility pre-Arab spring, the cosmetic reforms in the new constitution, and the 2011 legislative elections so far have insulated the Moroccan regime against any meaningful constitutional and institutional changes. However, the electoral contests produced an opportunity for the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) to enter the Moroccan political scene at the helm of the government. Using extensive field research and interviews with PJD members, I argue that the party is pursuing a pragmatic ‘refolutionary’ strategy within the regime’s constitutional rules of the game, aiming to mitigate the authoritarian features of the government while tackling, with limited success, Morocco’s major socio-economic issues. Ultimately, the regime’s control over the political system continues to influence Moroccan politics. The monarchy has a long tradition of managing opposition parties through cooptation and confinement, allowing opposition parties some stake in power, while the king and the palace’s shadow government of advisers are firmly in control.

Key Words:

• Arab uprisings
• Authoritarianism
• Islamism
• Monarchy
• Morocco
• PJD

Notes

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³ Antonio Gramsci (1972) Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci (New York: International Publishers).

⁴ Ilya Harik (1987) The Origins of the Arab State System, in: G. Salame (ed.) The Foundations of the Arab State, pp. 19–46 (London: Croom Helm).

⁵ Remy Leveau (2000) The Moroccan Monarchy: A Political System in Quest of a New Equilibrium, in: J. Kostiner (ed.) Middle East Monarchies, p. 117 (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers).

⁶ Remy Leveau (1997) Morocco at the Crossroads, Mediterranean Politics 3:3 (Winter), pp. 114–122.

⁷ Mohamed Daadaoui (2011) Moroccan Monarchy and The Islamist Challenge: Maintaining Makhzen Power (New York: Palgrave MacMillan).

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ M. Elaine Combs-Schilling (1999) Performing Monarchy, Stating Nation, in: R. Bourqia & S. Gilson Miller (eds) In the Shadow of the Sultan: Culture, Power, and Politics in Morocco, p. 176 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).

¹⁰ John Waterbury (1970) Commander of the Faithful: The Moroccan Political Elite. A Study in Segmented Politics, pp. 17–18 and 31 (New York: Columbia University Press).

¹¹ Germain Ayache (1983) Etudes d’Histoire Marocaine, pp. 160, 167–168 and 176 (Rabat: SMER).

¹² Mohamed Salahdine (1986) Maroc: Tribus, Makhzen et Colons, pp. 103–104 (Paris: Editions L’Harmattan).

¹³ Rachida Cherifi (1988) Le Makhzen Politique au Maroc: Hier et Aujourd’hui, p. 16 (Casablanca: Afrique Orient).

¹⁴ Mohamed Daadaoui (2012) Morocco’s Monarchical Exception?, Foreign Policy, December 14. Available at: https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/12/14/a-moroccan-monarchical-exception/, accessed July 30, 2017.

¹⁵ Mohamed Daadaoui (2011), Moroccan Monarchy and the Islamist Challenge: Maintaining Makhzen Power, p. 74 (New York: Palgrave MacMillan).

¹⁶ James Scott (1985) Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, p. 39 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press). See also idem (1990) Domination and the Arts of Resistance (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press).

¹⁷ Raymond Hinnebusch (2017) Political Parties in MENA: Their Functions and Development, British Journal of Middle East Studies, 44, p. 161.

¹⁸ Ibid, p. 170.

¹⁹ Lise Storm (2007) Democratization in Morocco: The Political Elite and Struggles for Power in the Post-Independence State, p. 52. Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Politics (London and New York: Routledge).

²⁰ Ibid, p. 96.

²¹ John Waterbury (1970) The Commander of the Faithful: The Moroccan Political Elite (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson).

²² Michael Willis (2006) Containing Radicalism through the Political Process in North Africa, Mediterranean Politics, 11, p. 144.

²³ Ellen Lust-Okar, Structuring Conflict in the Arab World, p. 3.

²⁴ Ibid, pp. 170–173.

²⁵ Maghress 2017 Benkirane to Lachgar. Available online at: https://www.maghress.com/goud/431929,accessed January 7, 2017.

²⁶ H24Info Avec Le Figaro (2016) Tahakoum, Relations avec Le Roi … Abdelilah Benkirane s’explique [Tahakoum, Relations with the King … Abdeliah Benkirane Explains]. Available at: https://www.h24info.ma/maroc/tahakoum-relations-avec-le-roi-abdelilah-benkirane-sexplique-enfin/, accessed August 2, 2017.

²⁷ Guardian (2011) Morocco Announces Constitutional Reform Plan, March 9. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/09/morocco-constitutional-reform-king, accessed February 2, 2017.

²⁸ King Mohammed VI Speech, March 8, 2011. Author’s translation.

²⁹ Ibid.

³⁰ Translated from the French version of the Constitution of Morocco. Available at: https://www.maroc.ma/en/system/files/documents_page/bo_5964bis_fr_3.pdf, accessed June 24, 2015.

³¹ Marina Ottaway 2012 Morocco: Can the Third Way Succeed?, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, July 31. Available at: https://carnegieendowment.org/2012/07/31/morocco-can-third-way-succeed-pub-48968, accessed July 30, 2017.

³² Author Interview with PJD member of the House of Deputies, Rabat, July 2006.

³³ Asef Bayat (1988) Revolution Without Movement, Movement without Revolution: Comparing Islamic Activism in Iran and Egypt, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 40, p. 161.

³⁴ Author Interview with PJD official in Casablanca, June 2009.

³⁵ Abdelillah Benkirane (1999) Al-Haraka Al-Islamiya Wa Ishkaliyat Al-Manhaj [The Islamist Movement and the problematic of methodology], p. 58 (Casablaca: Manshourat al-Forqan).

³⁶ Morocco World News (2017) Final Results of Elections in Morocco: PJD Won 107 Seats. Available at:https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2011/11/16642/final-results-of-elections-in-morocco-pjd-won-107-seats/, accessed April 7, 2017.

³⁷ Reuters (2016) Morocco’s King Names PJD Chief as new Prime Minister, October 11. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-morocco-election-idUSKCN12A22U, accessed March 27, 2017.

³⁸ Moroccan Times (2017) King Mohammed VI Dismisses Benkirane from Prime Ministership, March 16. Available at: https://themoroccantimes.com/2017/03/22161/king-mohammed-vi-dismisses-benkirane-from-prime-ministership, accessed March 21, 2017.

³⁹ Reuters (2017) Morocco King Replaces PM Benkirane amid Post-Election Deadlock, March 15. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-morocco-politics-idUSKBN16M3A9, accessed March 21, 2017.

⁴⁰ PJD (2017) Benkirane’s Statement after the Palace Communique, The Party of Justice and Development official Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/PJD.central/videos/1323216321078835/, accessed March 21, 2017.

⁴¹ Avi Max Spiegel (2015) Young Islam: The New Politics of Religion in Morocco and the Arab World, p. 35 (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press).

⁴² Ibid, p. 36.

⁴³ Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, p. 106.

⁴⁴ Ibid, pp. 206–208.

⁴⁵ Ibid, pp. 106–114.

⁴⁶ Ibid, p. 207.

⁴⁷ Author Interview with Abdelilah Benkirane, leader of the Party of Justice and Development, and then prime minister of Morocco, Rabat, July 2015.

⁴⁸ Interview with a PJD official, Rabat, July 2015.

⁴⁹ Bayat, Revolutions in Bad Times, p. 53.

⁵⁰ Author Interview with Abdelilah Benkirane, Rabat, July 2015.

⁵¹ Ibid.

⁵² Ibid.

⁵³ George Tsebelis (1990) Nested Games: Rational Choice in Comparative Politics (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press); see also: Andrea Schedler (2002) The Nested Game of Democratization by Elections, International Political Science Review, 23, pp. 103–122.

⁵⁴ Author Interview with Abdelilah Benkirane, leader of the Party of Justice and Development, and former prime minister of Morocco, Rabat, July 2015.

⁵⁵ Ibid.