Morocco is heralded nowadays as a unique case of a country with long term stability and gradual reforms, including human rights improvements and constitutional changes aimed at giving more authority to elected institutions while curtailing somewhat the authority of the monarchy and the informal state powers known collectively as the Makkhzen. The government has been led since 2011 by an Islamist party, the Party of Justice and Development (PJD), which remains very popular. Such popularity seems to stem more from its ability to effect small changes in key areas, such as the judiciary. In spite of institutional limitations imposed on all elected offices, including the prime minister, the PJD leadership has not sought to challenge the powers of the monarch and the Makhzen. Even after the constitutional reforms of 2011 and the political integration of Islamists, the Moroccan polity remains constrained by a modus operandi that accepts the supremacy of the monarchy, allows both a formal government led by elected officials and a shadow government serving the king. This is far from the constitutionalism demanded by the mass demonstrations of 2011, while the socio-economic remain unchanged for the masses. This paper will examine the evolution of Morocco’s political reforms since the Arab spring protests of 2011 with the aim of testing propositions of both the liberal and “illiberal democracy” literature and the extent to which they helps understand the nature and limits of recent and future reforms. More specifically, it will look into 1) how much liberalism and democracy Morocco has attained since the current monarch assumed power; 2) the extent to which, Morocco is, and will remain, an “illiberal democracy” as long as the fundamentals of monarchy-state-society remain unchanged. It will be argued that Morocco’s ability to remain a country of exceptional peace and stability in a region in turmoil rests mainly on an agreed upon modus operandi that eschews both Western liberalism and democracy. Rather than endangering the regime, such limitation maintains it. This paper will draw on democracy and liberalism debates and the writings they generated on their usefulness and applicability in a non-western context. Field research in Morocco, including a dozen interviews with secular and religious activists, party and labor leaders, will help establish a set of variables needed for a parsimonious examination of the questions posed here, which will be included in a future regional large N study that is both qualitative and quantitative.