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Moroccan Exceptionalism Examined: Constitutional Insights Pre- and Post-2011

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Moroccan Exceptionalism Examined: Constitutional Insights Pre- and Post-2011 Istituto Affari Internazionali IAI WORKING PAPERS 13 | 34 – December 2013 ISSN 2280-4331 Moroccan Exceptionalism Examined: Constitutional Insights pre- and post-2011 Mohammed Hashas Abstract Compared to Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, Morocco’s political development looks like an oasis of tranquillity. “Moroccan exceptionalism” is often drawn on as a positive status, the result of at least one decade of reforms implemented by the monarchy, long before the Arab Spring events. An alternative view is offered by some civil society movements inside the country and by the 20 February Movement, born amidst the waves of the Arab Spring, which are critical of this exceptionalism and call for more reforms. By making reference to the constitutional reforms undertaken by the country since 1908 and by assessing the most recent reform efforts, this paper argues that “Moroccan exceptionalism” is yet to go through the test of the implementation of what is often referred to as a “promising constitution” that should in its intentions pave the way for a genuine constitutional monarchy in Morocco. “Moroccan exceptionalism,” as the paper concludes, is not the description of a “final” political situation; rather, it is merely “a phase” in the political life of a country undergoing transition. It is then the outcome of this “phase” that will determine whether “exceptionalism” takes on a positive or a negative meaning and whether the two contrasting narratives about “exceptionalism” can ultimately be reconciled. Keywords : Morocco / Domestic policy / Reforms / Arab Spring © 2013 IAI ISBN 978-88-98650-05-7 IAI Working Papers 1334 Moroccan Exceptionalism Examined : Constitutional Insights pre- and post-2011 Moroccan Exceptionalism Examined: Constitutional Insights pre- and post-2011 by Mohammed Hashas ∗ Introduction The label “Moroccan exceptionalism” is often used both by government officials in the country and many political analysts and commentators. Digging deeper into its meaning, it appears that interpretations tend to vary. While it denotes what is positive and progressive for government officials, it is most often associated with political malaise and the complex situation in the country by its critics. 1 It is then a controversial label. For a deconstruction of the ambiguity that surrounds it, in the light of the Arab Awakening, I will outline the general characteristics of Moroccan constitutionalism from 1908 to 1 July 2011 and the adoption of the latest constitution. The idea behind this review of constitutional developments in the country is to identify the factors that have Paper prepared for the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), December 2013. ∗ Mohammed Hashas, PhD, is research fellow at LUISS University, Rome ([email protected]). 1 Among current politicians, for example, Driss Lechguer, former minister and secretary general of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), says that Moroccan exceptionalism is very linked to the Moroccan monarch since the independence, and it is not the result of the so-called Arab Spring. Most political parties and government officials argue along the same lines; see “Lechguer: Change has Started with the Independence, and the King has Led Moroccan Exceptionalism” [in Arabic], in Hespress , 12 September 2013, http://hespress.com/permalink/88685.html. Lahbib Choubani, a leading figure of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) and current minister of Relations between Civil Society and Parliament, says the same: “Choubani: Morocco is an Exception in the Context of the ‘Arab Spring’” [in Arabic], in Hespress , 21 October 2012, http://hespress.com/permalink/64881.html. Some others see that this “exceptionalism” dates back to more recent time, 1999, when the current king Mohamed VI took power and initiated big projects of change in the country; see for instance, Brahim el Guabli, “On the Moroccan Exception” [in Arabic], in Jadaliyya , 4 March 2011, http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/793. As to intellectuals, they mostly refer to the history of the country and its old political system and monarchy to say that Moroccan exceptionalism is built not only by the monarchy but also by the will of the Moroccans in embracing the kingdom: Idriss Hanni, “On the Meaning of Moroccan Exceptionalism” [in Arabic], in Hespress , 21 March 2011, http://hespress.com/permalink/29393.html; Anouar Majid, “Four Reasons Why Morocco is an Exception”, in Morocco World News , 1 January 2012, http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2012/01/21260; Mohammed Hashas, “The Moroccan Exceptionalsim: ‘We Want Corruption to Go, Change to Come, and the King to Stay!’”, in AljazeeraTalk , 22 February 2011, http://www.aljazeeratalk.net/old/en/node/7400. External followers of Moroccan politics also recognize some aspects that make the country different: J. Peter Pham, “Moroccan Exceptionalism?”, in World Defense Review , 10 February 2011, http://worlddefensereview.com/pham021011.shtml. Yet, not all see exceptionalism as a positive feature: Fouad Oujani, “Morocco May Not Be an Exception”, in Fair Observer , 11 February 2012, http://www.fairobserver.com/article/morocco-may-not-be-exception; Mohammed Hashas, “Is Moroccan Exceptionalism Falling Apart?”, in Reset-Dialogues On Civilizations (Reset-DoC) , 31 May 2013, http://www.resetdoc.org/story/00000022251. I note that Nathan J. Brown uses the term “Moroccan exceptionalism” to speak of the lower debts Morocco had compared to other Arab countries, like Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt which had huge debts, and which justified the early French and English imposition of protectorates and direct colonialism by the late 19th century: Nathan J. Brown, Constitutions in a Nonconstitutional World. Arab Basic Laws and the Prospects for Accountable Government , Albany, State University of New York Press, 2002, p. 33. © Istituto Affari Internazionali 2 IAI Working Papers 1334 Moroccan Exceptionalism Examined : Constitutional Insights pre- and post-2011 distinguished the country from other countries that are also experiencing change. Because of the place the monarch occupies in Moroccan history and political life, this brief constitutional review will focus on his position and role in the drafting and implementation of the texts. In this paper, I classify the constitutional stages in the country into three: 1) failed constitutionalism (1908-1972) during which the state and the king could be described as one body; 2) limited constitutionalism (1972-1992) during which the king shared powers; and 3) transitory constitutionalism (2011 - present) in which the king shares more of his powers without letting go of all of them, in an arrangement that could be said to constitute a system of “semi-constitutional monarchy.” I focus on this last stage, which has a bearing on the so-called Arab Spring. I will refer to some of the main changes the current King Mohamed VI has initiated since coming into power in 1999, and the challenges he still faces. The latter are behind the development of a Moroccan version of the Arab Spring, led initially by the Movement of 20 February. The Moroccan Spring was met with the royal will to pursue change by drafting a new constitution followed by free and fair legislative elections. This paper sheds light on the place of the monarch in the new constitution, compared with the previous ones, and the significant powers he still exercises. While his policies since coming into power in 1999 are broadly described as reformist and “democratic” in spirit, which makes the monarchy an exception in the positive sense of the term in the Arab world, he is also criticized for the side-effects his super-activism has on the elected executive power (the government) and the rule of law in general. The executive powers of the king challenge and consequently “indirectly” weaken the role of the elected government, especially when his democratic spirit is tainted by the corruption of his entourage (the makhzen ). It is this aspect of the kingdom that renders the label “Moroccan exceptionalism” pejorative. Overall, this paper argues that “Moroccan exceptionalism” is not a description of “a final” political situation but a description of “a phase” in the political life of a country that is seeking democratic change. It is the outcome of this “phase” that will ultimately determine whether “exceptionalism” takes a positive or a pejorative meaning. The two major challenges and scenarios presented at the end of the paper will show which tendency is more likely to prevail. 1. Failed constitutionalism: 1908-1972 What I refer to as the failed constitutionalism phase covers six attempts at constitution- making during the modern history of the country, and three others that succeeded in drafting and adopting constitutions. I call it “failed” even though three constitutions were adopted because they were all “given constitutions,” i.e., the king directly drafted them for his subjects, without consulting their representative bodies. They were not drafted by directly elected commissions or councils. In this period of the history of the country, which was still in the initial stages of crafting modern institutions, the Moroccan monarchy did not exercise absolute power, like that of France under King Louis XIV (reigned 1643 -1715). Rather, the Moroccan monarchs, based on their claim of being descendants of the Prophet of Islam through Ali’s offspring, have used the Islamic © Istituto Affari Internazionali 3 IAI Working Papers 1334 Moroccan Exceptionalism Examined : Constitutional Insights pre- and post-2011 consultancy practice of bay‘ah , which means bestowing loyalty to the king by the elderly representatives of tribes, lands, and especially religious scholars. 2 The first attempt at constitution-making in the country came from a group of governing elite, intellectuals, and religious scholars ( ulemas ) of Fez in 1908. 3 Their aim was not only to control the authority of the king and make him seem accountable but also to curb European (in this case French) colonial pressures that were already being felt in nearby Algeria and Tunisia and to limit internal rebellions and fix fiscal crises. 4 The abovementioned stakeholders presented a list of demands to King Abdel Hafid (reigned 1909-1912).
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