Rituals of Power and Political Parties in Morocco: Limited Elections as Positional Strategies
2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 46; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/00263201003612872
ISSN1743-7881
Autores Tópico(s)Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender
ResumoAbstract The article argues that the monarchy's religious authority and its use of rituals of power limit the ability of political parties to contest the monarchy's legitimacy. It goes beyond most institutionalist accounts of authoritarian persistence by exploring the micro-dynamics of symbolic power and the extent to which the regime's ritualization of power creates a political culture conducive to the monarchy's supremacy in the socio-political realm, thus promoting regime stability in Morocco. These rituals have been institutionalized in the political system and have become part of the political discourse in Morocco. The monarchy's religious authority and its use of rituals of power impede the ability political parties to mobilize and to penetrate Moroccan society, and force them to adopt positional strategies in limited elections. Notes 1. R. Owen, ‘Socio-Economic Change and Political Mobilization: The Case of Egypt’, in G. Salame (ed.), Democracy without Democrats? The Renewal of Politics in the Muslim World (London: I.B. Tauris, 1994), p.190. 2. Thirty-three parties competed in the September 2007 legislative elections. 3. J. Linz, ‘Non-Competitive Elections in Europe’, in G. Hermet, R. Rose and A. Rouquie (eds.), Elections without Choice (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1978), p.62. 4. E. Lust-Okar and A. Jamal, ‘Rulers and Rules: Reassessing the Influence of Regime Type on Electoral Law Formation’, Comparative Political Studies, Vol.35 (2002), pp.337–66; E. Lust-Okar, Structuring Conflict in the Arab World: Incumbents, Opponents and Institutions (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005); J. Stacher, ‘Parties Over: The Demise of Egypt's Opposition Parties’, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.31 (2004), pp.215–23. 5. L. Diamond, ‘Is the Third Wave Over?’, Journal of Democracy, Vol.7, No.3 (1996), pp.20–37, see especially p.25. See also D. Share and S. Mainwaring, ‘Transitions Through Transaction: Democratization in Brazil and Spain’, in W. Selcher (ed.), Political Liberalization in Brazil (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1986), pp.175–215; S. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: the University of Oklahoma Press, 1991). 6. From an interview conducted in the lower house of the Parliament with an USFP member in Rabat, July 2006. 7. Koutla was composed of five main parties: Istiqlal, USFP, PPS, and the Organisation de l'Action Démocratique et Populaire (OADP). 8. M. Darif, Al-Ahzab As-Siyasiya Al-Maghribiya: min Siyaq Al-Muwajaha ila Siyaq At-tawafuq (Casablanca: Ennajah al-jadida, 2001), pp.104–5. 9. Ibid. 10. Ibid., p.117. 11. S. Zerhouni, ‘Morocco: Reconciling Continuity and Change’, in V. Perthes (ed.) Arab Elites: Negotiating the Politics of Change (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004). p.64. 12. Istiqlal and the MP, for instance, sought to challenge and lessen the power of the majority RNI in parliament and government. 13. This provision created heated debate between political parties in Morocco. The two largest parties in parliament, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces and the Istiqlal Party, asked that the figure be raised to 10 per cent, inciting opposition from the National Rally of Independents and the Popular Movement Party. The Justice and Development Party (PJD) suggested that 10 per cent of the funds be distributed among all parties and 90 per cent distributed among the parties that received 7 per cent or more of the vote. Ultimately, the parliamentary committee in charge of the bill decided on the 5 per cent minimum. 14. The full Arabic text of the law on political parties is found at: http://www.islamonline.net/Arabic/doc/2005/10/article05.SHTML. 15. Prior to the 1992 constitution, two-thirds of the members of the parliament were chosen indirectly, while one-third was chosen indirectly through ballots cast by members chambers of commerce, business and professional associations. 16. In the 1993 elections, USFP won 52 seats, Istiqlal 50 seats, PPS 10 seats, and the AODP 2 seats. 17. For complete results of the 1993 legislative elections, see Appendix. 18. Zerhouni, ‘Morocco: Reconciling Continuity and Change’, p.65. The ministries in contention are: Interior, Office of the Prime Minister, Justice and Foreign Affairs. 19. The rest of seats were divided among different smaller parties. For complete results of the 2007 elections, see Appendix. 20. M. Darif, al-Nasaq al-siyasi al-Maghribi al-mu'asir: muqarabah susiyu-siyasiyah (al-Dar al-Bayda: Afriqiya al-Sharq, 1991), p.70. 21. From an interview with a USFP member in Marrakech, July 2006. 22. From an interview with a member of the Constitutional Union (UC) in the Upper Assembly of Councillors, Rabat July 2006. 23. N. Azzahi, Azzawiya ila al-Hizb: Al-Islam wa Assiyassa fi Al-Mujtama’ Al-Maghrebi[Sufi Lodge to Political Party: Islam and Politics in Moroccan Society] (Casablanca: Afriquia Asharq, 2003), p.5. 24. M.J. Willis, ‘Political Parties in the Maghrib: Ideology and Identification, a Suggested Typology’, The Journal of North African Studies, Vol.7, No.3 (Autumn 2002), p.15. 25. W. Zartman, ‘Opposition as Support for the State’, in A. Dawisha and I.W. Zartman (eds.), Beyond Coercion: The Durability of the Arab State (London: Croom Helm and Instituto degli Affari Internazionali, 1988), p.64. 26. See appendix for survey results. 27. Interview with a member of the ‘Nahj Addemocrati’ (Democratic Path, July 2006). 28. M. ‘Abed Al-Jabri, Arab-Islamic Philosophy: A Contemporary Critique, translated by A. Abassi (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999). 29. J. Entelis, Culture and Counterculture in Moroccan Politics (Boulder: Westview Press, 1989), p.6. 30. T. Desrues and E. Moyano, ‘Social Change and Political Transition in Morocco’, Mediterranean Politics, Vol.6, No.1 (2001), pp.21–47, at p.26. 31. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/morocco_statistics.html. 32. United Nations Development Programme country document for the Kingdom of Morocco (2007–11), p.7; found at http://www.pnud.org.ma/pdf/CPD_Morocco.pdf. For full socio-economic data of the survey respondents, please see Appendix. 33. From an interview with a USFP member of parliament, July 2006. 34. From an interview with a UC (Union Constitutionnelle) member of the Chamber of Councillors in the parliament. 35. See J.N. Sater, Civil Society and Political Change in Morocco (New York: Routledge, 2007), pp.52–121. 36. Interview with a member of the Istiqlal Party in Marrakech, 13 July 2006. 37. Interview with an official in the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Rabat, August 2006. 38. Interview conducted in Casablanca, July 2006. 39. J.N. Sater, ‘The Dynamics of State and Civil Society in Morocco’, The Journal of North African Studies, Vol.7, No.3 (2002), pp.101–18, at p.113. 40. Interview with a member of the Istiqlal party in Rabat, July 2006. 41. J.N. Sater, Civil Society and Political Change in Morocco (London: Routledge, 2007), pp.157–8. 42. Royal Speech of 12 October 1999 as quoted in ibid., p.157. 43. Ibid. 44. N. Pelham, ‘Freedom with Caveats’, The Middle East International, 24 March 2000, p.16. 45. See appendix for results of the legislative elections in 1984, 1993, 1997, 2000 and 2007. 46. L. Anderson, ‘Lawless Government and Illegal Opposition: Reflections on the Middle East’, Journal of International Affairs, Vol.40, No.2 (1987), pp.219–32, at p.221. 47. W. Zartman, ‘Opposition as Support of the State’, in A. Dawisha and W. Zartman (eds.), Beyond Coercion : The Durability of the Arab State (London: Croom Helm, 1988), p.62. 48. Ibid., pp.84–5. 49. E. Lust-Okar, Structuring Conflict in the Arab World: Incumbents, Opponents, and Institutions (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p.3, the emphasis has been added. 50. Ibid., pp.170–73. 51. Ibid., p.66. 52. Ibid., p.174. 53. USFP Member of the Parliament, July 2006 in Rabat. 54. Ibid. 55. Lust-Okar, Structuring Conflict in the Arab World, pp.129–40. 56. Zartman, ‘Opposition as Support of the State’, p.71. 57. Interview conducted in the Parliament in Rabat, July 2006. 58. M. Pripstein Posusney, ‘Multi-Party Elections in the Arab World: Institutional Engineering and oppositional Strategies’, Studies in Comparative International Development, Vol.36 (2002), pp.34–62, at p.53. 59. J. Linz, ‘Non-Competitive Elections in Europe’, in G. Hermet, R. Rose and A. Rouquie (eds.), Elections without Choice (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1978), p.62. 60. A. Schedler, ‘The Nested Game of Democratization by Elections’, International Political Science Review, Vol.23 (2002), pp.103–22, at p.109. 61. Ibid., p.109. 62. L. Wedeen, ‘Seeing like a Citizen, Acting like a State: Exemplary Events in Unified Yemen’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol.45 (2003), pp.680–713, at p.691. 63. Voter turnout in the seven legislative elections is: 1970 (85%), 1977 (82%), 1984 (67%), 1993 (62%), 1997 (58%), 2000 (52%), and 2007 (37%). See Appendix for a detailed table. 64. See Philip Roeder's study of voting behaviour in Soviet elections in ‘Electoral Avoidance in the Soviet Union’, Soviet Studies, Vol.41 (1989), pp.462–83. See also Tianjian Shi's study of China's voting patterns in China in ‘Voting and Non-Voting in China: Voting Behavior in Plebiscitary and Limited-Choice Elections’, The Journal of Politics, Vol.61 (1999), pp.1115–39. 65. See for instance, L. Wantchekon, ‘Clientelism and Voting Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Benin’, World Politics, Vol.55 (2003), pp.399–422. 66. Interview with a member of the Constitutional Union party in Marrakech, July 2006. 67. Interview with a member of the PPS in Rabat, July 2006. 68. Interview with a member of the USFP in Marrakech, 14 July 2006. 69. Interview with a member of the Labour political party in Rabat, July 2006. 70. M.P. Angrist, Party Building in the Modern Middle East (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2006), p.11. 71. Lust-Okar and Jamal, ‘Rulers and Rules’; Lust-Okar, Structuring Conflict in the Arab World; Stacher, ‘Parties Over’. 72. B. Dillman, ‘Parliamentary Elections and the Prospects for Political Pluralism in North Africa’, Government and Opposition, Vol.35, No.2 (2000), pp.211–36, at p.220. 73. From the rejection letter the Koutla sent the king in 1993, quoted in M. Darif, Al-Ahzab as-Siyassiya Al-Maghribiyah: min Siyaq Al-Muwajaha ila Siyaq At-tawwafuq (Casablanca: Ennajah Al-Jadida, 2001), p.273. 74. From an interview with a member of the USFP in Parliament, July 2006. 75. From an interview conducted in Marrakech during the city's annual city council meeting in July 2006. 76. G. Tsebelis, Nested Games: Rational Choice in Comparative Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990); see also Schedler, ‘The Nested Game of Democratization by Elections’.
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