Morocco and the Near East : Reflections on Some Basic Differences
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Morocco and the Near East : Reflections on some basic differences Author(s): EDMUND BURKE Source: European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie / Europäisches Archiv für Soziologie, Vol. 10, No. 1, Survivances et permanences or Continuity and Re- enactment (1969), pp. 70-94 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23998624 Accessed: 18-04-2019 18:15 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie / Europäisches Archiv für Soziologie This content downloaded from 128.114.188.17 on Thu, 18 Apr 2019 18:15:30 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms EDMUND BURKE Morocco and the Near East : Keflections on some basic differences The comparative sociological study of the countries of the Middle Eastern culture area for the nineteenth century can scarcely be said to have begun. But such studies can do much to help us come to a more precise estimate of the functions which particular institutions might fill, and the weight they could be required to bear in different parts of the Middle East during the critical period of the onset of modernization. It is the purpose of this article to begin to make some of the kinds of distinctions which set off different parts of the Middle East one from another, using the case of late nineteenth century Morocco. It is hoped that the analysis which follows will stimulate the same kind of critical examination of the institutions of other seg ments of the Middle East culture area. Even if it does not accomplish this objective, such an exercise may be useful if in studying the Moroccan modifications of some of these basic institutions, it can shed light on why Morocco was significantly different and therefore perhaps on the nature of these institutions themselves. In the pages which follow, it will be argued that despite a tendency to view Morocco as a slightly more backward and weaker version of the Near East, it differed in several fundamental respects. To begin with, the geographical, ecological and historical circumstances in which nineteenth century Morocco came to be were rather different from those which shaped the destinies of Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and even (to a lesser extent) Iraq at the same period. Even more significantly, there were crucial differences between a number of the major compo nents of nineteenth century Moroccan society. With no intention of being exhaustive, I shall examine some of these differences in historical and comparative terms, focusing on three important aspects of pre French Morocco: Islam, the city, and the administration. It will be suggested that in the predominently rural and tribal context of nineteenth century Morocco, politics was conducted less in terms of imposed official religious and administrative norms, and more in 70 Archiv, europ. sociol., X (1969), 70-94. This content downloaded from 128.114.188.17 on Thu, 18 Apr 2019 18:15:30 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms MOROCCO AND THE NEAR EAST terms of a network of social linkages based upon Moroccan popular Islam. Some of the consequences of this fact in a country which was undergoing rapid changes as a result of the commercial pene tration of the West will be pointed out. One by-product of this study might be that by concentrating upon the interrelatedness of the various geographical and social segments which composed the Moroccan empire, rather than on the great diversities, a more coherent view of the turbulent years at the beginning of the twentieth century may begin to emerge. Finally, despite real similarities between the Arab East and the Arab Far West, and the many historical and social continuities, Morocco was different, and these differences, although subtle, are subject to analysis. i. Geography and history. A consideration of the factors which marked the emergence of a new Moroccan empire should begin with an assessment of the geographical and historical circumstances which together combined to determine its peculiar evolution. To a great extent geography has shaped the kind of organized social and political life possible in Morocco. Attention will first be focused, therefore, on those geo graphic features which have a bearing on Morocco's relations with a wider world, its ecology and its political development. "Jazirat al-Maghrib" the classical Arab geographers called North Africa, "the island of the West", and if the phrase fits North West Africa in the broader sense, an island surrounded by the Mediterra nean and the Sahara, it can with equal appropriateness be applied to the Moroccan segment of the Maghrib. Cut off from the rest of North Africa on the East and South by the Atlas mountain chain and a pre-Saharan steppe area which extended almost to the Mediter ranean, Morocco was bounded to the West by the Atlantic ocean, with a coastline that was renowned for its treacherous tides, sand bars, and the absence of good natural harbors. To the North, access from the Mediterranean coast was blocked by the formidable barrier of the Rif mountains. This combination of geographical factors served to cushion Morocco from outside influence, giving it more time to re spond, and permitting it to accept or reject such influences on more nearly its own terms. The prédominent ecological influence on Morocco has undeniably been its mountains, especially the Atlas chain. These mountains have not only served to isolate Morocco on its landward side, they 71 This content downloaded from 128.114.188.17 on Thu, 18 Apr 2019 18:15:30 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms EDMUND BURKE also intrude at various points into central Morocco, arresting the rain clouds borne in on the prevailing winds from the Atlantic and create, in effect, a series of micro-ecologies within the larger Moroccan one. Because of them, the area between Algeria and Morocco has become a vast semi-arid steppe, and the steep valleys of the Middle and High Atlas are well-watered and capable of supporting considerable popu lations. Since the mountains divide Morocco into more than a dozen major ecological areas, the need to adapt to the exigencies of a different environment have led to the evolution of a series of partially autonomous units within the Moroccan empire. The possibilities of political development in Morocco were simi larly influenced by the topography. Because of the mountains, the problems of internal communications and security were that much greater for any would-be centralized government. Regions could (and periodically did) seek to adopt a more autonomous state, although all were ultimately condemned by ecology and the trade routes to membership in a greater Moroccan entity. Further, again largely because of the mountains, tribalism could remain a pronounced characteristic if Morocco into the twentieth century, for in addition to sheltering large populations, the mountains provided a refuge to inhabitants of the nearby plains if the central government became too insistent in its claims. The history of Morocco, therefore, is largely one of the unending tug of war between the forces of region alism and the central power. Until the early fifteenth century Morocco (and Northern Africa in general, whose fate it tended to share) were major political and economic forces in the western Mediterranean. Morocco was then linked to the Near East by important ties of trade and common reli gion, and to an extent, common culture. Urbanism, the steady expansion of the Arabic language and a more orthodox brand of Islam among the inhabitants of the plains, and the gradual develop ment of a sedentary peasantry were all characteristics of this earlier period. The significance of the trans-Saharan gold trade in the economy of the western Mediterranean has been attested by scholars of the period (i). Morocco's position at the head of one of the major trans-Saharan caravan routes allowed it to control a portion of this gold trade, and played an important role in its prosperity during this (i) Cf. the magistral work of Fernand et le Maghreb (Paris 1966) and E. W. Bovill, Braudel, La Méditerranée au temps de The Golden Trade of the Moors 2 (London Philippe II (Paris 1949). Also, Charles 1968). Emmanuel Dufourq, VEspagne catalane 72 This content downloaded from 128.114.188.17 on Thu, 18 Apr 2019 18:15:30 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms MOROCCO AND THE NEAR EAST time. But from about the mid-fifteenth century, when the decline of the Merinid dynasty (1196-1549) and a shift in the gold routes became apparent, Morocco began to close in upon itself. This period of decline coincided with a prolonged period of civil and dynastic strife. Only with the consolidation of the lAlaw! dynasty (1654-present) did conditions begin to improve. By that time, however, an important series of transformations had taken place in conditions of life in North Africa. The major elements of the Morocco of the nineteenth century had their origins in the changes and new orientations of the critical years from 1500-1654 (2). Considered schematically, four major and interrelated develop ments can be seen to characterize these years.