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Bullets over ballots: Islamist groups, the state and electoral violence in Egypt and Morocco (2010)

Kraetzschmar, Hendrik; Cavatorta, Francesco

Bullets over ballots: Islamist groups, the state and electoral violence in Egypt and Morocco (2010)

Kraetzschmar, Hendrik; Cavatorta, Francesco

Abstract:

This article is concerned with state-sponsored electoral violence in liberalized autocracies. The first section of the paper identifies a number of variables that can help explain the decision calculus of authoritarian incumbents to deploy force against strong electoral challengers. The second section then examines these propositions with reference to Egypt and Morocco. Drawing on recent parliamentary elections in both countries the article questions why, despite facing the challenge of political Islam, the two regimes differed so markedly in their willingness to manipulate the polls by recourse to violence. Whilst the Egyptian authorities decided to abrogate all pretence of peaceful elections in favour of violent repression against the Muslim Brotherhood candidates and sympathizers, no such tactics were deployed by the ruling elite in Morocco. We suggest that three principal factors influenced the regimes' response to this electoral challenge: (1) the centrality of the elected...

http://doras.dcu.ie/15742/

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Civil society, Islamism and democratisation: the case of Morocco (2006)

Cavatorta, Francesco

Civil society, Islamism and democratisation: the case of Morocco (2006)

Cavatorta, Francesco

Abstract:

The positive role that an active civil society plays in processes of democratisation is often highlighted in the literature. However, when it comes to the Middle East and North Africa, such activism is considered to be detrimental to democratisation because the predominant role is played by Islamist groups. The explanation for this rests with the perceived ‘uncivil’ and undemocratic Islamist ethos of such groups. This paper challenges this assumption and argues that Islamist associations can be a potential force for democratisation for three reasons. First, they are capable of political learning; secondly, they generate secular civil society activism as a response to their activities, increasing the number of actors in the political and social system; and finally, they can cooperate with other civil society groups on a number of issues, given that they are all subject to the same authoritarian constraints. The paper focuses in particular on the case of Morocco and the Islamist group...

http://doras.dcu.ie/475/

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Constructing an open model of transition: the case of North Africa (2004)

Cavatorta, Francesco

Constructing an open model of transition: the case of North Africa (2004)

Cavatorta, Francesco

Abstract:

This article puts forth an open model of transition to democracy challenging the conventional wisdom of the literature on processes of democratisation, which focuses almost exclusively on domestic factors. International variables are thus at the centre of explanations for regime change. The article argues that transitions do not occur in a vacuum and presents a theoretical model that can be useful to analyse external-internal linkages. The model is then applied to three North African countries, whose efforts to democratise have failed: Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. The article concludes that it is no longer methodologically sound to exclude international factors from the analysis of transitions and that there is considerable evidence pointing in the direction of the central role they have.

http://doras.dcu.ie/473/

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Islamist moderation without democratization: the coming of age of the Moroccan Party of Justice and Development? (2009)

Wegner, Eva; Pellicer, Miquel

Islamist moderation without democratization: the coming of age of the Moroccan Party of Justice and Development? (2009)

Wegner, Eva; Pellicer, Miquel

Abstract:

This article studies a novel factor relevant for the moderation of an Islamist party: the degree of dependency on a social movement organization. This question is examined in a case study analysing the evolution of the relationship between the Moroccan Islamist party, Party of Justice and Development (PJD), and its founding social movement organization. Over time, the PJD has been gaining autonomy, becoming more moderate and simultaneously gaining strength. Contemporaneously, liberalization in Morocco has been partially reversed, partly as a result of the rising Islamist strength. These findings suggest that it is the strength of the Islamist opposition, rather than its ideological rigidity, that makes MENA rulers reluctant to liberalize. We study the implications of these findings for European Union policy towards Islamist parties in the MENA region.

http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/12818/

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Left–Islamist Opposition Cooperation in Morocco (2011)

Wegner, Eva; Pellicer, Miquel

Left–Islamist Opposition Cooperation in Morocco (2011)

Wegner, Eva; Pellicer, Miquel

Abstract:

This contribution studies the different preferences of Moroccan Islamists and leftists for cooperating with each other. The Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) has been actively seeking an alliance with the leftist Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) since 2007. The USFP’s national leadership has avoided any form of cooperation with the Islamists at the national level, but had to tolerate government coalitions at the local level. We find that the most important driver behind the USFP’s reluctance to ally with the Islamists is its co-optation. The asymmetry in electoral strength and differences in the type of electoral support the two parties enjoy also appear to be important reasons behind the different party preferences. For the PJD, its superior electoral support and the higher degree of programmatic support it enjoys suggest that it expects to be successful in democratic elections, while the opposite seems to be the case for the USFP. Ideology, by contrast, was f...

http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/12817/

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Political Islam in Morocco: negotiating the Kingdom’s liberal space (2011)

Dalmasso, Emanuela; Cavatorta, Francesco

Political Islam in Morocco: negotiating the Kingdom’s liberal space (2011)

Dalmasso, Emanuela; Cavatorta, Francesco

Abstract:

The uprisings of the Arab spring have highlighted the weakness of traditional opposition actors which have been unable to predict and lead the revolutions. This paper, focusing on the case of Morocco, examines how the discourses and practices of the regime shaped the complex field of Political Islam, contributing to two distinct but interlinked phenomena. On the one hand, they have managed to lead Islamists and seculars to overcome many of their previous divisions to sustain common battles in the name of democracy and human rights. On the other they have deepened rifts and divisions among Islamists themselves on the crucial issue of political reforms.

http://doras.dcu.ie/16713/

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Reforming the family code in Tunisia and Morocco - the struggle between religion, globalisation and democracy (2010)

Dalmasso, Emanuela; Cavatorta, Francesco

Reforming the family code in Tunisia and Morocco - the struggle between religion, globalisation and democracy (2010)

Dalmasso, Emanuela; Cavatorta, Francesco

Abstract:

There is no doubt that one of the most contentious terrains of contestation in the supposed clash of values between Islamism and western values is the role of women in society. Thus, the issue of women's rights has become the litmus test for Arab societies with respect to the current zeitgeist of human rights in the age of democracy and liberalism. There is today a stereotypical view of debates surrounding women's rights in the Arab world where two distinct camps are in conflict with each other. On the one hand there are 'globalised' liberal and secular actors that strive for women's rights and therefore democracy, while on the other are obscurantist movements that are anchored in religious tradition, resist globalisation and are therefore autocratic by assumption. This article challenges this view and through an empirical study of the changes to the Code of Personal Status in Tunisia and Morocco it demonstrates that the issue of women's rights is far m...

http://doras.dcu.ie/15733/

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Socio-economic voter profile and motives for Islamist support in Morocco (2014)

Pellicer, Miquel; Wegner, Eva

Socio-economic voter profile and motives for Islamist support in Morocco (2014)

Pellicer, Miquel; Wegner, Eva

Abstract:

Based on an original dataset of merged electoral and census data, this article is a study of electoral support for the Islamist Party in Morocco in the 2002 and 2007 elections. It differentiates between the clientelistic, grievance and horizontal network type of supporters. We disentangle these profiles empirically on the basis of the role of education, wealth and exclusion for Islamist votes. We find no evidence of the clientelistic profile, but a shift from grievance in 2002 to a horizontal network profile in 2007. World Values Survey individual level data are used as a robustness check, yielding similar results. Qualitative evidence on a changing mobilization pattern of the party between 2002 and 2007 supports our conclusions.

http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/12814/

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The international context of Morocco's stalled democratization (2005)

Cavatorta, Francesco

The international context of Morocco's stalled democratization (2005)

Cavatorta, Francesco

Abstract:

Scholars of democratization have recently renewed their efforts to examine the influence of the international context in processes of transitions, by bridging comparative politics and international relations. This article contributes to this growing literature through an analysis of Morocco's stalled democratization in the light of its external context. International factors have been introduced in analyses of democratization only very recently and they have a structural bias. The study offers an 'agency'-based theoretical framework of understanding and uses concepts drawn from the realist theories of international relations. Two different dimensions along which countries should be analysed when examining their process of regime change are employed. The article then proceeds to examine the case of Morocco. It concludes that the international dimension crucially contributed to shape the development and the outcome of the Moroccan transition by modifying the incentive s...

http://doras.dcu.ie/474/