HOW AN ISLAMIC SOLUTION BECAME AN ISLAMIST PROBLEM: EDUCATION, AUTHORITARIANISM AND THE POLITICS OF OPPOSITION IN MOROCCO By ANN MARIE WAINSCOTT A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2013 1 © 2013 Ann Marie Wainscott 2 To Tom and Mary Wainscott 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is hubris to try to acknowledge everyone who contributed to a project of this magnitude; I’m going to try anyway. But first, another sort of acknowledgement is necessary. The parsimonious theories and neat typologies I was taught in graduate school in no way prepared me to understand the tremendous sacrifices and risks of physical and psychological violence that individuals take in authoritarian contexts to participate as members of the political opposition; that is something one learns in the field. I’d like to begin the dissertation by acknowledging my deep respect for those activists, regardless of political persuasion, whose phone calls are recorded and monitored, who are followed every time they leave their homes, who risk their lives and the lives of those they love on behalf of their ideals. For those who have “disappeared,” for those who have endured torture, sometimes for years or decades, for those who are presently in detention, for those whose bodies are dissolved in acid, buried at sea or in mass graves, I acknowledge your sacrifice. I know some of your stories. Although most of my colleagues, interlocutors and friends in Morocco must go unnamed, they ought not go unacknowledged. For always answering my requests for interviews with “Marhaban” or “welcome,” and an invitation for a couscous, thank you. How will I ever do research anywhere else? For the men who manage the archives at al-Tajdeed, thank you for your friendly support of my project, and especially to Ahmed for asking me why Americans smile so much, but especially for asking, “Why do I like all of the Americans I meet but hate all of America’s policies?” I think about his questions a lot. Mohammad Masbah recited full theses on request, on a host of topics. He always had a theoretical framework, an argument and copious evidence to respond to even my 4 simplest questions. If I had to name one person who guided me to my present intellectual interests, it was he. I thank Maâti Monjib for making sure my chair was in the sun, so the Moroccan intelligence agents following us around got better pictures of me. His humor diffused a lot of tension. I learned a lot from him that cannot be expressed in footnotes. Saida, my Moroccan mama, cooked me good food, pointed out my every mistake in Arabic, really taught me how to say “Salamu al’aykum” and once spoke to me for a week in nothing but Ism Fa’il construction because I was having trouble understanding it. Living in her home was a pleasure and very constructive. She also introduced me to the politics of Islamic education in Morocco, and for that I really owe her more than I can say. I am humbled by the brilliant minds that have advised me along this path. A few years into my graduate training I ran into my advisor, Leonardo Villalón, at an African music performance. He asked me how I was doing. I lamented that very little of the literature in the discipline was asking questions in which I was interested. “My questions aren’t political science,” I told him. He laughed at me. “Well if you’re a political scientist, and you’re asking it, then its political science,” he counseled. Somehow that was all I needed to hear to stay in the program. For the thousand other unnamed times he took something I’d been mulling over for months and gave me new direction, frequently in two sentences or less, I acknowledge him here. I gladly thank him for his friendly counsel, his commitment to intellectual integrity as well as his legendary hospitality to my colleagues and me. I should highlight one scholar who consistently painted a more complete picture of authoritarianism than is frequently captured in the literature. I still remember the day I 5 noticed his quiet activism. In a graduate seminar on democratization, a graduate student took an insensitive and ignorant position about life under an authoritarian regime that most professors would have ignored. Michael Bernhard, however, responded, “I wonder if you’d feel differently if you were the one living under authoritarianism.” I acknowledge him here for not letting this comment slide, for constantly defending the best interests of graduate students and for consistently finding a way to make difficult things seem simpler to me. I learned a lot from him. Ken Wald is a subtle teacher and advisor. For not only allowing me to design my own second field in Religion and Politics, but for also overseeing it, giving me an independent study in his signature course, and for having a kind, generous, and funny spirit along the way, I thank him. I also thank Aida Hozic for showing me what an activist graduate syllabus can look like. Her criticisms of the discipline make me feel more at home here. Matthew Jacobs has also contributed to the project in subtle but significant ways. More than anything, though, the type of questions he asks gives me hope for the future of Middle Eastern studies. In the spring of 2010, I defended my comprehensive exams in Comparative Politics before a committee of Leonardo Villalón, Bryon Moraski, and Patricia Woods. After the defense, the committee commented that I had been somewhat deferential to the literature in my exams; they suggested that I start “saying what I actually think.” With this sentence the committee transformed the experience from a mere pedagogical and evaluative one to a true rite of passage. I acknowledge and thank them for their wise counsel. I hope they do not regret it. 6 I also acknowledge the beautiful intellectual community I experienced at the University of Florida, particularly among the Africanists. Thank you Staffan Lindberg for building that community so intentionally through your “Firesite” chats, Winifred Pankani for graciously hosting and making such delicious ground-nut soup, and the participants: Goran Hyden, Benjamin Smith, Joe Krause, Ramon Galiñanes, Steve Lichty, Cara Jones, Patricia Mupeta, Ann Lee Grimstad, Levy Odera, Ashley Leinweber, Keith Weghorst, Dominique Lisanti, Nic Knowlton, Jenny Boylan and all the speakers who enriched the gathering. Thank you to my other colleagues at UF, specifically the Friday Sahel group of Dan Eizenga, Emily Hauser, Hashem Zanaty, Ibrahim Yahaya, Mamadou Bodian, Oumar Ba, Sheldon Wardwell and Aaron King. I thank those of my cohort who stuck with the program, Pauliera Rippere, Tristan Vellinga, Chi-Hung, Stuart Strome, Chris Tecklenburg and my dear colleague from African Studies, Alison Montgomery. I am especially grateful for the friendship and research assistance of Lina Benabdallah and Rhonda Youssef. Lastly, the undergraduate students of Introduction to Comparative Politics, Politics of the Middle East, and Politics of the Arab Spring asked questions, challenged my positions, and in general gave me the will to go on when I was otherwise discouraged. Writing all of their letters of recommendation is a small price to pay for all that I learned from them. The fieldwork experience was greatly enriched by a group of American scholars working in Morocco including Roger Anderson, Matt Schumann, Alison Wohlers, Ahmed Khanani, Matt Buehler, Lillie Greiman, Eric Fischer, and Eric Christianson. I especially acknowledge the group of scholars working in Rabat and particularly Yasmine Yu, Megan Macdonald, Amanda Rogers, and Allison Minor. They demonstrated that a new 7 generation of women is joining and shaping the academy. Our conversations were truly priceless. I also gratefully acknowledge the teachers and administrators at the Arabic Language Institute of Fez. Christopher Witulski was my main companion in Morocco, and served as a partner, friend, academic advisor and caretaker for several pivotal years of this project. The dissertation was made possible by generous funding from the Boren Fellowship and pre-dissertation fieldwork funded by the Department of Political Science and the Center for African Studies (CAS), both at the University of Florida. Thank you for the support, financial and otherwise. I also acknowledge generous funding from the Center for European Studies that facilitated my research at L’Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. At the university, I am particularly indebted to the weekly Baraza program, hosted by the CAS every Friday, for adding breadth to my doctoral training. At the center I acknowledge the support and friendship of the faculty and staff and particularly Fiona McLaughlin, Abe Goldman, Todd Leedy, Corinna Green, and Ike Akida. I also gratefully acknowledge the counsel and friendship of Sue Lawless Yachisin, the Graduate Secretary in the Department of Political Science, and Aimee Kreppel and Bryon Moraski whose guidance as graduate coordinators will pay dividends in my career and the careers of my colleagues for years to come. I’d also like to thank Kate Baldwin, who on several occasions gave me wise counsel for the dissertation and for managing research. For the personal sacrifices they have made, for putting up with my absence for over a decade now, for pretending like they were not really stressed by my fieldwork in Morocco and for their constant support, I acknowledge my parents, David and Laura 8 Wainscott. In the last decade my family has endured, in addition to my frequent fieldwork, at least ten deployments by my brothers: Matthew, Joseph and Joshua, who all serve or have served in various branches of the military.