Jihadism in North Africa: A House of Many Mansions

Abstract

The 2011 Arab uprisings began in North Africa and toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Libya, but the forces that wreaked this profound change also touched their fellow Maghreb states of Algeria and Morocco. This Adelphi book examines how the politics, security and economies – which were largely stable for decades prior to 2011 – have changed in the four states. It asks why the popular revolutions in Tunisia and Libya did not spread to Algeria and Morocco; how the revolutionary states have fared since 2011; why Libya descended into a deadly civil war while the others did not; and whether the sitting governments in Algeria and Morocco have applied sustainable strategies to address the new political climate.

The book includes chapters on each of the four core Maghreb states, together with regional assessments of the jihadist threat and economic challenges. It analyses the tension between security and political reform, and argues that without persistent and comprehensive development of government institutions focused on creating jobs and providing security, the region risks future protests, terrorism or even revolution – a lesson that states throughout the Middle East should take to heart.

Notes

1 The best study on that period is Luis Martinez, The Algerian civil war1990-98 (London: Hurst, 2000), especially Chapter Four.

2 Jean-Baptiste Rivoire and Salima Mellah, ‘Enquête sur l’étrange “Ben Laden” du Sahara’, Le Monde Diplomatique, February 2005.

3 Jean-Pierre Filiu, ‘The local and global jihad of Al-Qa'eda in the Islamic Maghrib’, Middle East Journal, vol. 63, no. 2, Spring 2009, pp. 220–3.

4 Jean-Pierre Filiu, The Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons from the Democratic Uprising (London: Hurst, 2011), p. 108.

5 Luis Martinez, The Libyan paradox (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), pp. 70–1.

6 ILFG, Al-Murajaat (The Revisions), Cairo, Madbouli, 2010.

7 See Isabelle Mandraud, Du Djihad aux Urnes (Paris: Stock, 2013), pp. 153–8.

8 David Kirkpatrick, ‘A Deadly mix in Benghazi’, New York Times, 28 December 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/benghazi/#/?chapt=0.

9 International Crisis Group, ‘Tunisia's Borders: Jihadism and Contraband’, Middle East and North Africa Report, no. 148, 28 November 2013.

10 Isabelle Mandraud, ‘L‘exécutif libyen menacé par les luttes de pouvoir’, Le Monde, 11 October 2013, http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2013/10/11/l-executif-libyen-menace-par-la-lutte-des-pouvoirs_3494086_3212.html.

11 Alexandra Geneste and Nathalie Guibert, ‘La France organise, aux Nations Unies, son retrait militaire du Mali’, Le Monde, 27 April 2013, http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2013/04/26/la-france-organise-aux-nations-unies-son-retrait-militaire-du-mali_3167223_3210.html.

12 See Statoil, ‘The In-Amenas Attack’, presented to the Board of Directors on 11 September 2013, http://www.statoil.com/en/NewsAndMedia/News/2013/Pages/12Sep_InAmenas_report.aspx.

13 See Aaron Zelin, Evan Kohlmann and Laith al-Khouri, ‘Convoy of Martyrs in the Levant’, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, June 2013, http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/opeds/Zelin20130601-FlashpointReport-v2.pdf.

14 Jean-Pierre Filiu, ‘Al-Qaeda is Dead, Long Live Al-Qaeda’, Carnegie International Endowment for Peace, 22 April 2014, http://carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=55401.

15 Nelly Lahoud and Muhammad al-Ubaydi, ‘The War of Jihadis Against Jihadis in Syria’, CTC Sentinel, March 2014, vol. 7, no. 3, p. 5.