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Nation of Lobbyists: Why Social Movements Become Sustained
Abstract
The Arab Uprisings fundamentally altered the way people protest in North Africa. Since 2011, protests levels in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt have remained high. (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project 2018) In Morocco, protesters have become emboldened in their demands and more direct in whom they whom they hold accountable. This paper examines the question: When do concessions – or protesters achieving their demands – appease social movements and when do they instigate more social movements? Using Morocco as a case study, I build a theory in response. Based on dozens of interviews with Moroccan activists from the February 20th Movement, Hirak, the Unemployed Graduates, and other social movements, I argue that the proliferation of protest movements in Morocco is due to how the regime has managed relations with social movement organizations. Specifically, in response to a mixture of concessions, cooptation and repression from the regime, protest groups in Morocco function more like lobby groups than traditional social movements, calling on the regime to grant concessions to special interest groups.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
Morocco
Sub Area
Maghreb Studies