Morocco's political system features a symbiotic relationship between two dissimilar systems of power. The first is rational and corresponds to modern state function of bureaucratic and administrative governance while the latter is traditional in nature and has buttressed those rational institutions of power in Morocco. Much of the current authoritarian state in Morocco is to be understood within this peculiar relationship, where makhzen operates within the rational mechanisms, with a whole set of traditional and patrimonial practices. This patrimonial system refers to the vibrant authority of makhzen, which predates the colonial era. French colonial rule in Morocco has in many respects strengthened the process of state building in Morocco. The paper argues that the French colonial “mission civilisatrice” in Morocco primarily sought to build a centralized form of government and extend it beyond the territories formerly under the direct tutelage of the makhzen, namely bled es-siba (land of dissidence), while, at the same time, preserving the sharifian institutions especially during the early years of the protectorate. One of the early colonial administrators in Morocco, Maréchal Hubert Lyautey reinvigorated the sultan’s traditional power, and endowed it with a modern state apparatus. This marked an important shift in the evolution of the Moroccan state from its traditional and primordial system of governance into a more modern administrative and bureaucratic model of government. Makhzen conserved its appearance and rituals of power so long as they did not interfere with the political and administrative apparatus of the protectorate. Lyautey’s style of administration would prove instrumental in maintaining the monarchy’s “sultanistic” grip over modern Morocco since the independence in 1956.

Maréchal Hubert Lyautey died in July 1934, and the French government immediately commissioned a mausoleum for him in Rabat, Morocco. As a French officer, Lyautey had been the first Resident General of this North African Protectorate. And yet, the mausoleum eschewed architectural mention of his national heritage. Instead, the mausoleum paid visual homage to Morocco’s Islamic past, for it was designed in the style of a Muslim saint, or marabout. Thus, the fifteen by fifteen structure was enclosed by modest white walls and capped with a sloping roof of green tiles. The mausoleum represented an effort by the French to construct a “new” historic monument, thereby connecting the colonial venture to Morocco’s medieval grandeur. The placement and design of the mausoleum was controversial. For France’s public officials and private citizens, the construction of this mausoleum and its placement in the Moroccan capital seemed logical, for, as first Resident General, where he ruled between 1912 and 1925, Lyautey had, in their view, founded modern Morocco. For some Moroccans, however, particularly those sons of the mercantile elite who were beginning to forge a nationalist movement, the architectural perpetuation of this Frenchman’s memory was much more problematic. Thus, French archives and Moroccan memoirs are rife with incidents of nationalist protests as the monument came to be built in Rabat. My architectural analysis of the mausoleum of Lyautey will provide insights into colonial tensions in the 1930s. My paper will respond to the following questions: How and why did French officials decide to build this mausoleum? How and why did they invest the mausoleum with symbolic meaning? Who was the intended audience for the architectural meanings of the mausoleum? How and why did Moroccans from different socio-economic strata respond to the medievalizing vision of French colonial officers? This paper demonstrates the fragility of Franco-Moroccan colonial relationships as this North African kingdom moves toward contemporary period that is the focus of this panel.

The impact of Hubert Lyautey’s philosophy of cultural separation and preservation on the Moroccan urban landscape during the protectorate period has been explored by Janet Abu-Lughod (Urban Apartheid in Rabat, 1980) and Paul Rabinow (French Modern, 1995). This paper, primarily historical in nature, examines Lyautey’s legacy in Morocco after independence through an examination of the reconstruction of Agadir after its destruction in the earthquake of 1960, and by comparing the modernist “New Agadir” [sic, in English] project to more recent urban development projects in Casablanca and Rabat-Sale. The reconstruction of Agadir provided a clean slate for urban planners who worked for the Ministry of Public Works and the Commission for the Reconstruction of Agadir, and they rebuilt Agadir without the “urban apartheid” that had characterized Lyautey’s urbanism. Lyautey had envisioned a segregated residential pattern in which modern French quarters and administrative centers could be built, but “traditional” lifestyles would be preserved for Moroccans, to avoid the ills of the typical colonial city—especially in Algeria—where “the indigenous city is polluted, sabotaged; all of its charm is gone, and the elite of the population has left.” The post-earthquake planners of 1960 rejected the Lyautey legacy: Agadir was to become a wholly “modern” new city. This paper argues that while the New Agadir project rejected Lyautey’s historic preservationism and cultural separationism, it reaffirmed the connection between urban development and state authoritarianism that had been fundamental to Lyautey’s projects. Furthermore, it argues that the great colonial debate of the Lyautey era, the assimilation-association question, has shaped debates about Agadir after 1960 concerning what it means for a city to be both modern and Moroccan. The new Agadir has been described as an “orphan” city, deprived of its past (Charef, 1994); the monarchy’s more recent urban projects, while no less ambitious, have reaffirmed Lyautey’s belief in the linkage between the preservation of tradition and the construction of a modern Morocco. The paper is based on sources in the French and American government archives, the memoirs of earthquake survivors, French and Moroccan press, and the writings and plans of French and Moroccan urban planners.

In addition to other aspects of contemporary Moroccan history, the long shadow of Lyautey is cast over the history of religions in Morocco. Although Christianity disappeared after the introduction of Islam in the seventh century CE, various forms of Christianity have appeared throughout Morocco in the past two centuries. The main factor in the re-introduction of Christianity is the colonial legacy of the French protectorate. A few years ago, a Moroccan historian and a European priest joined forces to analyze the development of the Christian presence in Morocco from the mid-nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. Offering a periodization and interpretation of this history from prior to the protectorate in 1912 until well after independence in 1956, Baida and Feroldi's work (2005) serves as a starting point for re-examining the impact of the protectorate policies on the present day. Their study emphasizes the history of the Roman Catholic presence in Morocco and its adjustments through changing political circumstances. The Protestant communities are acknowledged but receive less attention. A critical assessment of their work combined with new research raises questions concerning the diverse facets of the Christian presence. In addition to the direct colonial legacy of the Roman Catholic church and its institutional presence, my research indicates a small but rich variety of Protestant communities have also established themselves in contemporary Morocco. The more visible of these communities are dominated by emigrants and expatriates of various sorts - diplomatic, business, touristic, migrants from other parts of Africa, etc.; however, there are also the far less visible Moroccan converts to Christianity. This diverse reality is not fully revealed in the 2005 study, thus raising questions for further investigation. What are the various forms of Christianity in Morocco today? What is the relationship between the colonial legacy of Lyautey and the dynamics of the contemporary situation? How has government policy during the protectorate and after independence shaped the development of this minority religious tradition? Based on interviews with Christians in Morocco and a variety of historical and contemporary sources, this paper is an attempt to identify the principal forms of Christianity in Morocco today, to consider their relation to the long shadow of Lyautey, and to assess the dynamics of Christian communities in contemporary Moroccan society.