The stabilising effect of turbulence in authoritarian regimes: How the Moroccan monarchy ducked the Arab Spring

Description

The sudden collapse of a handful of Arab regimes during the Arab Spring has ignited the debate about authoritarian endurance in the Middle East and North Africa region. while monarchies confront similar political, social and economic challenges as the republics, only republican regimes collapsed in the face of popular protests. This paper investigates what might explain this difference of outcome in the case of Morocco. The paper argues that previous explanations of authoritarian durability have neglected the political experience that regimes muster during decades of political turbulence or instability. Authoritarian regimes that seem strong and stable may be less resilient than shaky but tested regimes.

Dr. Abdeslam Maghraoui is Associate Professor of the Practice in the political science department at Duke University. His main area of research is the interaction between culture and politics in the Middle East and North Africa. He explores this connection in three interrelated projects: the definition of nationhood and citizenship in liberal Egypt, authoritarian survival strategies in Morocco, and authoritarian attitudes about religious norm violations in Morocco and Pakistan. Professor Maghraoui received a PhD in politics from Princeton University (1991).