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Between Cooptation and Contestation: Amazigh Movement in Ten Years of Mohamed VI's Reign
Abstract
The Amazigh Movement began its militancy in independent Morocco in the late sixties. Since then, the changes in the structure of the movement, the diversification of the actors who shape it, and the changing nature and extent of their claims have contributed to the redefinition of their position in the country's political arena and their relationship to the institutional political sphere. After a first stage of popular culture's exaltation, the Amazigh Movement places on the public arena of contestation to Moroccan political system thanks to the consolidation of its structure and its transition from individual action to collective action. That Amazigh Movement's change took place during the last years of Hassan II's reign, and it was strongly related to a specific national context: the government of alternance, and hopes around what it was call the democratic transition process. Both issues will open up a gap in the Amazigh Movement which will increase with the arrival of the new king Mohammed VI. Thus, the enthronement of the new monarch has brought about the renegotiation of different power groups positions' in the institutional political arena, including the role of the Amazigh Movement, besides the opening of a "New Amazigh Policy". Both issues have given rise to the design of new strategies for action in the country's public sphere by the movement, the redefinition of its modes of representation and organization, and the adoption of new channels of communication with the population and with the Makhzen. This paper has the target of analyzing the new organizational structure of the Amazigh Movement in Morocco, the ideological differences of its current discourses, and the role of new Amazigh elite in the present socio-political life of the country. Likewise, we want reflect on the impact that the restructuring of neo-patrimonial system implemented after the arrival of Mohmed VI has had on the Amazigh Movement as an actor of contestation to the regime.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
Morocco
Sub Area
Mediterranean Studies