Why Parties in Morocco: Political Party Formation and Development Under Monarchy by Abdul-Wahab M. Kayyali B.A in International Relations and Economics, May 2004, Tufts University M.A in Social Sciences, August 2009, The University of Chicago M.A in Political Science, January 2015, The George Washington University A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 31, 2018 Dissertation directed by Nathan J. Brown Professor of Political Science The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University certifies that Abdul-Wahab M .Kayyali has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of June 4, 2018. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. Why Parties in Morocco: Political Party Formation and Development Under Monarchy Abdul-Wahab M. Kayyali Dissertation Research Committee: Nathan J. Brown, Professor of Political Science, Dissertation Director Henry E. Hale, Professor of Political Science, Committee Member Sarah A. Binder, Professor of Political Science, Committee Member ii © Copyright 2018 by Abdul-Wahab M. Kayyali All rights reserved Dedication To the martyrs of the Syrian Revolution. To the victims of the Syrian Genocide. To Arab and non-Arab publics struggling to assert their political agency. To Palestine: the people, the place, the idea. Acknowledgements A PhD dissertation is often the accumulation of five or more years (six years, in this case) of intellectual development, throughout which the author is interacting with stimulating people and material. Though the author’s knowledge of the material is scrutinized at different stages, there are hardly any occasions where he must reckon with the people – his intellectual debtors. In what follows, I may fail to remember and acknowledge all the people who have influenced my thought and contributed to the completion of this dissertation. To them, I apologize, and quote an Arabic muwashah (sung poem in the Classical): “If ever I misbehave in your love, know that infallibility does not exist, save for a prophet.” A prophet I certainly am not. I came of age at a time when war and political instability was a constant in the Middle East. Politics was thus one of my earliest hobbies. As I grew older, I developed a keen interest in studying Arabic political agency. I was, and still am, convinced that we— Middle Eastern peoples—were largely responsible for our own political outcomes, that we are not docile recipients of foreign bombs, aid, and dictates. I was thus interested in examining the history and trajectory of political agency in the Middle East and North Africa. At its infancy, this project sought to compare my home country of Jordan with Morocco. Through time, it developed to focus solely on Morocco. That being said, like Alexis De Tocqueville writing about Democracy in America, my home country was constantly weighing on me – serving as my comparative benchmark. The project found a home at the George Washington University’s political science department. It was there that I had the privilege and fortune to bounce my ideas, thoughts and written work around a generous, collegial, and outstanding group of faculty and ii graduate students. I am forever indebted to my cohort mates, specifically Christie Arendt, Trey Herr, Drew Herrick, Daniel Jacobs, Clinton Jenkins, Michael Joseph, Barnett Koven, Elizabeth (EB) Pertner, Kevin Petit, Mara Pillinger, and Jack Sine. They were not only instrumental in helping me survive the first few years of graduate school, but in helping me enjoy it too. I also appreciated the company and camaraderie of Sultan Alamer, Dina Bishara, Lillian Frost, Lisel Hintz, Audrey Mercurio, Daniel Nerenberg, Dorothy (Dot) Smith Ohl, Fabiana Perrera, Allison Quatrini, Steven Schaaf, Annelle Sheline, Chana Solomon-Schwartz, Alanna Torres-Van Antwerp, Scott Weiner, Madeleine Wells Goldburt, and many others. From the faculty, I’d like to thank Robert Adcock, Brandon Bartels, Bruce Dickson, Alex Downes, Henry Farrell, Martha Finnemore, Danny Hayes, Harvey Feigenbaum, Eric Lawrence, Kimberly Morgan, Harris Mylonas, Stephen Kaplan, Emmanuel Teitelbaum, Paul Wahlbeck, and Adam Ziegfeld. My dissertation committee has been a graduate student’s best wish come true. Since the day I met him in Amman when he was signing his co-authored book, Nathan Brown has been a model of humility, consideration, responsiveness and support. I am heavily indebted, both personally and intellectually, to his stewardship and guidance. Henry Hale has been as excited about this project as I have, throughout its various stages (arguably more so, at times). His commentary was always thorough and incisive. Sarah Binder brought a razor- sharp analytical precision and clarity to the committee and proofread early drafts of the proposal word by word. Nathan, Henry, and Sarah were as caring and judicious in advising as I could have hoped. I thank them dearly. I’d also like to thank William Lawrence and Anouar Boukhars for agreeing to serve on my dissertation committee. William Lawrence helped set me up in Rabat, and for that I thank him. iii In Morocco, I was based in the École De Gouvernance et D’Économie (EGE) in Rabat, where EGE faculty, staff, and visiting researchers were attentive, friendly, and welcoming. They were invaluable in helping me navigate the lay of the land in Morocco. Of them, I would like to thank Fadma Ait Mous, Ahmed Bendella, Najib Bounahai, Omar Bendjelloun, Olivier Deau, Manuel Goehers, Marleen Henny, Zakaria Kadiri, Loubna Lhachimi, Racha Lotfi, Badiha Nahhas, Ilyas Saliba, and Christoph Schwarz. My field research in Morocco benefited considerably from the help of Hassan Aourid, Mehdi Ben Khouja, Mounir Jouri, Mohammed Masbah, Maati Monjib, Abdulhayy Moudden, and Mohammed Sassi. All of these people, and many more, combined to make my research and living experience in Morocco unforgettably rich and enriching. My research in Morocco was funded by the George Washington University (GWU) political science department, the Institute for Middle Eastern Studies (IMES) at GWU, the American Political Science Association (APSA) Middle East and North Africa (MENA) alumni fund, and the Zeit- Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius Foundation’s Trajectories of Change program. My family has supplied all the necessary love, food, entertainment and support to help me see this project through. My sisters, Rania and Tala, have always provided care, wit, humor and sass to balance and complete my life. My parents, Maher and Sawsan, have exhibited all the confidence in my ability to achieve the highest of academic and non- academic achievements. My father honed my social and life skills that have enabled me to learn from politicians, professors, students and street vendors alike. Having a surgical and encyclopedic knowledge that I have always struggled to keep up with, my mother never stopped challenging my intellect. It is from her that I got my belief in science and expertise, and my aspiration for accuracy and precision. I owe all my achievements, academic or iv otherwise, to her. Finally, my partner Neveser Koker nurtured my scholarship through its highs and lows, lent me her acumen and superior intellect, and with boundless, unconditional love, brought out the best scholar in me – after she had already brought out the best musician, traveler, devotee, and companion. I could not have started this project, let alone finished it, without her. I started this project in 2012, when a tremendous hope engulfed the Middle East and North Africa after a massive wave of regional protest brought down some (and shook most) regional dictators. Six years later, that hope has almost vanished, as dictatorships reestablished themselves in transitional countries, and others descended into bloodshed and strife. Of all of these uprisings, the tragic fate of the Syrian Revolution has affected me the most. It is that revolution that has shaken my ideological and political proclivities, my faith in humanity, and wounded my conscience at its core. I’ve watched Bashar al-Assad wage a genocidal war against the people of Syria – killing, displacing, and ethnically cleansing half of its population. I’ve also watched international powers enable him either by direct assistance or inaction. I’ve seen conspiracy theories and Islamophobic narratives take root to explain the Revolution’s trajectory through a complete normalization of the ‘War on Terror’ discourse. Being the son of a Palestinian family that itself was ethnically cleansed from its homeland in 1948, this was deeply unsettling and personal for me. The Syrian Revolution has reminded me that the struggle for political agency in the Middle East and North Africa has a long and decorated history, that—regardless of the resources marshalled against it— simply cannot be reduced to dictator whims, or foreign power politics. It is not tidy, it is not pretty, and it is often bloody, but it is our struggle. For that reason, I dedicate this dissertation—itself a study of organized political agency in Morocco—to the martyrs v of the Syrian Revolution, the victims of the Syrian Genocide, and Arab and non-Arab publics struggling to assert their political agency. Who knew that chanting “How sweet is freedom!” would scare them so much? I also dedicate this dissertation to Palestine, the idea and place to which we—the Palestinian people—have a right to return. vi Abstract of Dissertation Why Parties in Morocco: Political Party Formation and Development Under Monarchy Why do political parties form in authoritarian settings where they cannot contest executive power? In this dissertation, I construct a theory of political party formation and development in such settings. I argue that political parties in such regimes form to contest political discourse and practice, and develop in ways that are intricately related to these formation processes.