Morocco: Outfoxing the opposition

Journal of Democracy

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 57-69

  Benchemsi, Ahmed ^a  

^a STANFORD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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Indexed keywords

EID: 84855867153     PISSN: 10455736     EISSN: 10863214     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/jod.2012.0014     Document Type: Article

References (13)

1. In the 2007 general election, official turnout was 37 percent.
2. Professor Abdeltif Menouni once explained, in a periodical published by Mohammed V University in Rabat, that "royal prerogative" means "the monarch?s discretionary privilege to act for the good of the country in the absence of constitutional provisions or by his personal interpretation of any." See his essay "Le recours 'a l'article 19, une nouvelle lecture de la Constitution?" Revue juridique, politique et? Conomique du Maroc, January 1984, 42.
3. As of this writing in December 2011, the government has not yet released the official English-language version of the new constitution. My discussion relates to the Arabic and French versions, the latter of which is available at www.sgg.gov.ma/BO/bulletin/FR/2011/BO_5964-Bis_Fr.pdf. All translations are my own.
4. To cite only the boldest, Articles 220, 222, 489, and 490 of the Penal Code prohibit anyone from even affirming? Much less preaching or acting in accord with?any religious beliefs (including agnosticism and atheism) other than those of Islam. The Code also forbids homosexual relations, as well as sexual relations between individuals of opposite sexes who are not religiously married. All the above offenses are punishable by imprisonment.
5. In transliterated form, the Arabic text of Article 46 reads: "Chakhs al malik la tuntahaku hurmatuh, wa lil malik wajib al ihtiram wa tawqeer."
6. The ceremony of tajdid al walae (renewal of loyalty) is an annual reminder that the king?s legitimacy stems first and foremost from the bey'a?the traditional pledge of allegiance that deems him the "lieutenant of God on his land." Hassan II realized that straightforward absolutism would not work in the modern age, so he nominally "constitutionalized" royal authority by writing extremely broad royal powers into the 1962 Constitution's Article 19. When the February 20 demonstrations broke out in 2011, one of their main demands called for this article's repeal. This has not really happened: The powers are still there, reinforced, expanded, and reorganized into Articles 41 and 42 of the new basic law.
7. This is documented through the late 1980s by Mohamed Achergui, cited in Rachida Cherifi's book Le Makhzen politique au Maroc (Casablanca: Afrique Orient, 1988). No more recent study is available, but it stands to reason that most laws still come from royal decrees since both the king's privileges and the organic law covering Parliament have remained materially unchanged since the 1980s.
8. This way comes complete with a "rent system" that spreads corruption throughout the whole length and breadth of the political world. In Morocco, many lucrative activities (transportation, the commercial exploitation of sandpits or stone pits, big-game fishing, and the like) can be carried out only with state permits, which the royal palace hands out on a discretionary basis in order to reward its clients. King Hassan took particular pains to involve all the politicians he could with this rent system, so that he could retain permanent leverage over them. This continues today on an even wider scale.
9. In March 2011, the constitutional-reform commission asked all parties to submit their views. Most of these submissions barely differed from the status quo, and in some respects were less bold even than those proposed by the king himself.
10. After the July 1 referendum, French president Nicolas Sarkozy saluted Morocco's "exemplary process," while Foreign Minister Alain Jupp? hailed the "clear and historic decision of the people of Morocco."
11. Fareed Zakaria, "Why There's No Turning Back in the Middle East," Time, 17 February 2011.
12. Susi Dennison, Nicu Popescu, and Jos? Ignacio Torreblanca, "A Chance to Reform: How the EU Can Support Democratic Evolution in Morocco," European Council on Foreign Relations, May 2011, 3. Available at www.ecfr.eu/page/-/ECFR33_MOROCCO_BRIEF(1).pdf.
13. Personal e-mail communication to author, September 2011.