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Mouad FaitourDepartment of Religion, University of Georgia, USADr. Mouad Faitour received his PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Georgia in 2024. His scholarship centers on state-religion dynamics in North Africa, with particular attention to Morocco’s management of religious, social, and gender reforms. He examines how regimes strategically navigate opposition through controlled religious discourse and reform initiatives. His recent article in Religions, “Morocco’s Distinctive Islam at a Crossroads: The State’s Support for Sufism,” explores the political role of Sufism in Morocco’s religious policy. |
Abstract:
Although Morocco is often seen as politically distinct from its southern Mediterranean neighbours, its trajectory reflects broader regional patterns of elite co-optation and regime adaptation in times of perceived instability. This article examines how the Moroccan monarchy has sustained its dominance by integrating opposition parties during moments of political crisis. Focusing on two crucial episodes—the 1998 inclusion of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) and the 2011 post-Arab Spring rise of the Justice and Development Party (PJD)—this research uses a comparative case study approach to analyse the monarchy’s strategic use of rewards and repression. Although these moments appeared democratic, they ultimately reinforced authoritarian resilience. Applying a “carrot-and-stick” approach, this article demonstrates how ideologically diverse opposition parties were incorporated into governance only to be systematically marginalised as they began to challenge monarchical authority. The monarchy’s tactical management of both leftists and Islamists exemplifies this dynamic. This study contributes to comparative understandings of authoritarian durability and constrained democratisation in the Mediterranean region. Rather than examining the USFP and PJD separately, this study draws on Abderrahmane Youssoufi’s 2018 Memoir and Benkirane’s testimonies to offer a comparative perspective on how the regime engages similarly with divergent opposition forces. It concludes that, regardless of whether opposition parties have secular or Islamist affiliations, the regime actively resists them— employing a wide array of institutional and informal mechanisms to diminish their constitutional powers and popular support—because they are perceived as threats to its survival.
