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162. How to revitalize the dialogue between NATO and the Maghreb countries?
- Author:
- Pierre Razoux
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- NATO Defense College
- Abstract:
- At a time when the Atlantic Alliance has just adopted in Lisbon its new strategic concept which acknowledges the importance of the partnerships linking it to its partners, it is worth asking a few questions about ways of giving fresh impetus to the Mediterranean Dialogue (MD), especially with the Maghreb countries. Why this focus on North Africa? For two reasons. First of all because cooperation between the Alliance and the Maghreb countries has not yet reached the same level as cooperation with the Mashreq countries, despite some positive signs that this could change for the better in the near future. Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia have in fact reached agreement with NATO on individual cooperation plans (ICP) which it is hoped will enable them to put in place those partnership actions best suited to their needs, while at the same time rationalizing the Alliance's assistance effort. Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia have also signed agreements with NATO on the protection of classified information which make it possible for them to have access to a more ambitious level of cooperation.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, NATO, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Algeria, North Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania
163. Refugee Camps in the Palestinian and Sahrawi National Liberation Movements
- Author:
- Randa Farah
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- Drawing on ethnographic field research, this analysis compares the evolution of refugee camps as incubators of political organization and repositories of collective memory for Palestinian refugees in Jordan and Sahrawi refugees of the Western Sahara. While recognizing the significant differences between the historical and geopolitical contexts of the two groups and their national movements (the PLO and Polisario, respectively), the author examines the Palestinian and Sahrawi projects of national consciousness formation and institution-building, concluding that Palestinian camps are "mapped" in relation to the past, while political organization in Sahrawi camps evidences a forward-looking vision. TO WHAT EXTENT do ideological and political structures affect the positioning of refugee camps in national space and shape the politics of identity and memory? Does the symbolism of camps change following radical shifts in official national politics? Are subjective factors irrelevant in such circumstances? Comparing the evolution of political leaderships in two different settings-Palestinian and Sahrawi refugee camps-can shed light on these questions. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Palestinian camps in Jordan (1995-2000 and 2007) and Sahrawi camps in Algeria (2005-2007), this article examines camps as venues refracting the structural dynamics, political contexts, and nationalist ideologies and praxis of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of al-Saqiat al-Hamra' and Rio de Oro (Polisario). It proposes that the contexts within which these organizations evolved have led to two different prototypes of polities and leaderships in exile, enabling the Polisario-but not the PLO-to transform refugee camps into incubators of new social and political institutions transportable to national territory upon repatriation. Given the complexity of the subject matter, this article will limit its discussion to the pivotal historical, structural, and subjective factors most useful for explaining the different political trajectories of Palestinian and Sahrawi camps. INITIAL COMPARISONS Whereas the Palestinian issue is well known, a brief overview of the history of the Sahrawi movement provides context for the argument that follows. As the Spanish government prepared to abandon its protectorate of Western Sahara in November 1975, it secretly signed an agreement with Morocco and Mauritania aimed at establishing a tripartite administration of the territory. Morocco and Mauritania had competing claims to the Western Sahara, a region bordered on the north by Morocco, the northeast by Algeria, the south and southeast by Mauritania, and the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Just as Spain was preparing to withdraw, Morocco and Mauritania invaded the territory. Morocco took control of the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara, which it renamed its southern (or "Saharan") provinces, while Mauritania seized control of the southern third. Meanwhile, the Polisario, established in 1973, won Algeria's backing for its independence struggle and set up its headquarters in Sahrawi refugee camps located in an isolated region of the southwestern Algerian desert near the town of Tindouf. The camps are also home to the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), the state-in-exile established by the Polisario in 1976. After Mauritania withdrew from the Western Sahara in 1979, Morocco extended its control to the territory Mauritania had claimed. In the 1980s, Morocco built a 2,700-kilometer-long sand and earthen wall (or "berm") that cuts diagonally through Western Sahara, extending from its northeast corner down to the southwest near the Mauritanian border. (See map.) The berm enables Morocco to control two-thirds of the areas richest in phosphate and minerals, as well as the Atlantic coast's fishing industry. On the eastern side of the berm is what the Polisario calls the "liberated" or "free" zone. No country recognizes Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara, which remains on the United Nations' list of non-self-governing territories. Hostilities between Morocco and the Polisario ended in 1991 with the establishment of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) in accordance with settlement proposals accepted in 1988 by Morocco and the Polisario. Both the PLO and the Polisario are Arab national liberation movements that, despite decades of struggle, have failed to fulfill their aspirations of self-determination long after most other national liberation struggles entered a postcolonial stage. It is worth noting that the Palestinian resistance inspired the Polisario, which drew parallels between the colonization of Western Sahara in the maghreb and Palestine in the mashreq. As Sahrawi refugees frequently pointed out to me, the resemblance between their flag and the Palestinian flag was intentional. . . .
- Topic:
- United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Palestine, Arabia, and Morocco
164. "Women and the Law in Islamic Societies: Legal Responses to Domestic Violence in Saudi Arabia and Morocco"
- Author:
- Cybèle Cochran
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- al Nakhlah
- Institution:
- The Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Abstract:
- A common misconception pervades in the West that women are all mistreated in Arab societies due to the application of Islamic law (shari‛a). Scanning media articles, we see references to stoning as punishment for adultery in Iran and requiring of the burka for women under the Taliban. In Morocco, however, women are not obligated to wear the veil and stoning is not an acceptable punishment for any crime. All of these countries have Muslim governments, and all claim to base their legal systems on shari‛a principles. What then accounts for the differences in their treatment of women under the law?
- Topic:
- Islam
- Political Geography:
- Iran and Morocco
165. Muslim Democratic Parties in Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco: An Economic Explanation
- Author:
- A. Kadir Yıldırım
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- The recent emergence of Muslim democratic parties such as AKP in Turkey and PJD in Morocco draws attention to the perennial question on the moderation of Islamist parties yet again. Economic liberalization and the accompanying socioeconomic transformation underlie the democratic and liberal turn political Islam has taken in the Middle East. The precise nature of liberalization is critical to this moderation. Competitive liberalization, by enabling peripheral groups to benefit from liberalization, conduces to the renewed interest in democracy and a liberal system. Crony liberalization, by reinforcing the archaic rent-seeking relationship between the state and big business and continuing to marginalize the peripheral groups from politics and the economy, sustains the interest of peripheral groups in the reactionary discourse of Islamism. The strength of Muslim democratic parties is a reflection of competitiveness economic reforms introduce in the society and the economy.
- Topic:
- Islam
- Political Geography:
- Turkey, Middle East, and Morocco
166. Reshaping Civil Society in Morocco: Boundary Setting, Integration and Consolidation
- Author:
- Bohdana Dimitrovova
- Publication Date:
- 12-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
- Abstract:
- This paper looks at the dynamics affecting the development of civil society in Morocco within the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy. It explores cooperation mechanisms in three domains of civil society endeavour – women's rights, human rights and socio-economic rights. In each area, the paper examines the kinds of mechanisms and opportunities emerging for the promotion of civil society, and which forms of action and stances taken by civil society have been encouraged (or otherwise). The paper contends that the development of civil society has triggered different responses by the state and international community. While civil and political rights have preoccupied domestic and international actors, socio-economic rights have long been absent from their agendas. Yet it is argued here that shifting responsibility for issues in the socio-economic domain to civil society is highly problematic under the current circumstances of state building, and poses risks of further ruptures in Moroccan society.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Development, Human Rights, and Islam
- Political Geography:
- Europe, North Africa, and Morocco
167. The Offshore Camps of the European Union: At the Border of Humanity
- Author:
- Miriam Ticktin
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
- Abstract:
- Immigrant and asylum-seeker camps like those in Libya and Morocco are the creation, manifestation, and part of the new, borderless Europe. They consist of a new post-colonial, new-liberal border-zone, a space continuously negotiated by the movement of people, new forms of surveillance technology, and new processes of supranational government. The camps are a response to both a “security” and “humanitarian” crisis, brought into reality through two governing regimes: one of policing and one of protection. The precise mechanisms produce spaces which not only divide people into citizens of one nation-state or another, but produce certain populations as surplus humans.
- Topic:
- Security, Human Rights, Migration, and Immigration
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Libya, North Africa, and Morocco
168. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
- Author:
- Jean-Pierre Filiu
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, established in January 2007, is the latest in a long line of Algerian jihadi groups. Like many terrorist organizations, AQIM enjoys global media exposure on activist Internet sites, but unlike other al-Qaeda franchises, it has managed to maintain its indigenous leadership. The group has become known for fearsome suicide attacks, which were previously unheard of in Algeria, but has failed to incorporate the jihadi outfits from neighboring Morocco and Tunisia. AQIM has therefore focused on the northern Sahara, carving out safe havens and threatening weak government forces, first in Mauritania, and now increasingly in Mali.
- Topic:
- Islam, Terrorism, and Insurgency
- Political Geography:
- Algeria, North Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Maghreb, and Mauritania
169. Saudi Royals Reunited? Crown Prince Sultan Returns Home
- Author:
- Simon Henderson
- Publication Date:
- 12-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- Late on December 11, Crown Prince Sultan arrived home to Saudi Arabia after a year's absence that included medical treatment in the United States and a nine-month convalescence at his palace in Morocco. Although described as "enjoying full health" and looking animated, Sultan is believed to still be unwell. In Sultan's absence, King Abdullah named interior minister Prince Nayef to the vacant post of second deputy prime minister, a position construed as crown-prince-in-waiting. Apart from marking a fresh twist in a drawn-out succession process, Sultan's return has implications for Saudi domestic and foreign policy -- particularly, on the eve of a Gulf summit, the continuing tension on the border with Yemen and a potentially nuclear Iran.
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iran, Middle East, Arabia, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco
170. EU Democracy Promotion in the Mediterranean. Cooperation against All Odds?
- Author:
- Vera van Hüllen
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
- Abstract:
- Focusing on the Euro-Mediterranean relations since the early 1990s, this paper investigates in how far the EU has been able to shape its relations with third countries according to its democracy promotion policy. The paper traces the evolution of the EU's provisions for democracy promotion and compares the implementation of political dialogue and democracy assistance with seven (semi-)authoritarian regimes (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia) since the early 1990s. A clear regional trend to more intensive cooperation lends credibility to the claim that the EU possesses a certain agenda setting power in international relations. A systematic comparison across countries and over time explores the explanatory power of interdependence, political liberalisation, and statehood for the remaining country variation. The paper finds that the degree of political liberalisation in target countries is the most important scope condition for cooperation in the field of democracy promotion and points to the need of further investigating (domestic) factors to account for the EU's differential 'normative power' in international relations.
- Topic:
- Democratization and Authoritarianism
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia