Morocco’s managed liberalization via CIPE Development Blog
The recent issue of the Journal of Democracy features several articles that examine the September 2007 elections to Morocco’s House of Representatives. The right-of-center Istiqlal Party won the most votes, ahead of the Islamist Party of Justice and Development that many expected to win. The elections were free and fair, as attested to by international observers. But they fell short of being a genuine expression of democratic governance.
Morocco has been hailed as one of the most reformist countries of the region, improving media freedom and human rights. But at the same time reforms so far have not addressed a fundamental imbalance in the distribution of power. The executive continues to dominate both politics and the economy. The king remains an absolute monarch. He names the premier...