Morocco: The End of Opposition Posted by Shadi Hamid

Two weeks ago, Abdelilah Benkirane was elected the new head of Morocco’s Justice and Development Party (PJD), considered the largest Islamist opposition party in the country. Leadership changes in the PJD are important because the party’s “normalization” as a participant in the political process is seen as a model for other Arab countries. Benkirane is allegedly a “moderate,” which reminds me that “moderate” may be the most abused word in modern political discourse. First of all, Benkirane is known for his sharply-articulated social conservatism. In this respect, he is more appropriately a "traditionalist." Secondly, the only reason anyone cares to call him a “moderate” is because he’s a strong defender of the Moroccan monarchy, i.e. the status quo. But what is so moderate about playing nice with a monarchy that refuses to grant parliament or political parties any real influence in decision-making? And even if this rightly constitutes “moderation,” then perhaps moderation isn’t always a good thing.

The problem of political reform in Morocco, and many other countries in the region, is particularly vexing. You can’t have real political reform without a real opposition to demand it. In Morocco, none of the political parties are, in any real sense, opposition parties, because they don’t really oppose anything. They are all pro-monarchy and pro-regime. Now, this isn’t necessary a problem, except for the fact that the major and overriding obstacle to political reform in Morocco is, well, the monarchy. This is a structural problem, and structural problems are hard to solve, particularly when the U.S. and the EU, in their democracy promotion efforts, tend to focus on cosmetic efforts – such as training parliamentarians – when the structural problem is that the Moroccan parliament has little power in the first place.

The only way Morocco will ever become a democracy is if it makes a difficult transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one. This requires a serious effort - backed by large-scale grassroots mobilization - to tackle the issue of constitutional reform head-on. This is difficult to do in Morocco because criticizing the King himself, or even his prerogatives, is a punishable offense. In other words, then, the one issue central to the future of Moroccan democracy is precisely the issue that has been taken off the table and is illegal to discuss publicly.

In any case, Benkirane’s election signifies that a party that was already non-confrontational toward the monarchy will become even more so. It appears - although I hope I am wrong - the PJD will cease to be a force for substantive political reform in the coming years, which is unfortunate, since it was probably the only party that was in any position to do so. 

Comments

[TB]

I agree with the author that any further democratization will require a structural change in the role of the monarchy. This is hard to achieve because, being a structural problem, to change it quickly, one needs to upend the system. It is, therefore, naive to think that the change will come from grassroots mobilization, which even if it happens will bring about a nondemocratic change, of which, sensing the democratic spirit of the author, I am sure he will disaprove.

A democratic change therefore is more likely to come from a coalition of middle class professionals and business elites. I can say this because I am Moroccan, and I have much experience working in Morocco and getting to know the different class preferences.

The author, especially, does not give enough credit to Mr. Benkirane as a moderate. Regardless of what he believes to be the causes of natural disaster, Mr. Benkirane is especially aware of the mundane in politics and does not aspire to make his party as a carrier of a messianic mission to convert society into religious version of itself. Contrary to others in his party, who argue for a stronger role of religion in politics, he maintains that the group's agenda should be focused on combatting poverty and promoting social justice rather than focus on an irrelevant eschatology.

It remains that Benkirane does not support trimming the power of the King. And why should he? he could either build the base of the party by delivering results or he could protest away while others work within the system to deliver goods to their constituents. This is especially important since Morocco is developing rapidly and all social economic indicators are heading north.

Morocco is evolving, and a call for rapid "democratization" is unwise if not dangerous. This does not mean that democrats should not keep an eye on human rights abuses; some of which, like torture, is carried out at the behest of the US; promote social justice; and support women's rights. All of these are the King's initiatives and may not fare well if left only to the grassroots.

TB-

[anon]

This post brought back memories of my trip to Spain during "Semana Santa" while studying in Madrid. I had never been to a real dictatorship before and was struck by how the king's image was absolutely everywhere.

Everywhere you had the exact same photograph, except at the places where you made international phone calls, which all sported a photo of the king on the telephone.

[jalal nali]

Thank you for your Article,
but, (there's always a but), who told you that a democracy have to be an exact copy of your democracy? I'am Moroccan and i support our monarch, why? because is not simply a King as you know and understand!
he is also the faith commander, so your perception of king in morocco, is diferent, and the king represent the unity of the country, from the rif to the sahara. Regarding the PJD Mr Benkirane is exactley like the turkish ilamist party PJD two, and the turkish representative of the party were present in the annual meeting of the PJD this year, why all this noise about Islamist political party?
you have in germany the centre cristian democratic party, it's a democratic party at the same time with a religious base.
Morocco is in real transition (REAL) the global mentality of the country has changed, and Morocco is the only country in africa who experienced so many changes in the few last years than any other in the continent history.
you should support this transition and be part of it, strategically and historically morocco is the onnley real ally of the usa in this region, why?
Not simply because of the Regime, but the population mentalety, trougth the history of morocco we knew when to be Strong and ferm and when to be friendly and helpfull, Morocco was always there to help others! others jew from Spain (centures ago)or helping France to repeal the Nazis, our historical contribusions certified our good principals. live and let others live in respect of others differences.

[Max]

I haven't been following Moroccan politics since returning home from Rabat in May, but it seems to be the election of Benkirane is less ominous than the rise of the MTD. I don't quite understand the theory the monarch is operating under in forming an "anti-Islamist" pole, but it would seem to me that such a polarization would only encourage the PJD to consider confronting the monarchy as such. Unfortunately, I think support for the Monarchy is fairly widespread in Moroccan society, excepting the rising bourgeoisie in le Maroc Utile.

The outstanding question for democracy promoters such as the EU and US isn't so much how to promote democracy by encouraging civil society (which is flourishing) or professionalizing the political sphere (which is slowly happening), but how to encourage the king to move ahead with the process of institutional reform. Barring a serious external disruption (such as persistent and/or extreme increases in food prices) it is unlikely that indigenous grassroots pressure will seriously threaten the current institutional arrangement. Change must come from the top. My question is whether international investors and trade partners have any methods of putting pressure on the monarchy to modernize, for example in terms of increasing transparency in the judiciary, or enforcing antitrust.

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