The Return to Africa and other Diplomatic Efforts: Mohamed VI's Foreign Policy This paper highlights aspects of Morocco's' foreign policy under king Mohamed VI. It presents a comprehensive portrait of several new diplomatic efforts spearheaded by the king, focusing on their emergence, ongoing development, and broader influences on Morocco's foreign relations. Beyond gaining greater familiarity with current developments surrounding Moroccan diplomacy, this study explores the impact of these developments on Moroccan domestic affairs and wider identity under Mohamed VI. This paper charts central features of Morocco's foreign policy over the past two decades. Throughout the early years of king Mohamed's reign, Moroccan diplomacy was marked by continuity with the past. But over the past ten years, discernible patterns of change have emerged. These are an outcome of shifting global and regional politics, and efforts to revitalize longstanding Moroccan diplomatic priorities. While the traditional pivots of Moroccan diplomacy-efforts to secure international support for Morocco's rule over the Western Sahara region, solidify ties with its traditional western allies, and foster economic cooperation with other countries- all remain intact, several noticeable breakthroughs have occurred during the king’s second decade in power. The most significant of them is Morocco's return to the African Union in 2017 and its expanded engagement with African countries. Another aspect of Moroccan diplomacy under Mohamed VI is an effort to promote the kingdom's image as a moderate, tolerant, and accepting country against the backdrop of an increasingly radical region hostile to western and other influences. These diplomatic efforts are intertwined with domestic initiatives, such as the 2011 constitutional amendments that underscored Morocco's pluralism. The paper discusses these developments and explores their impact on Moroccan society. Finally, this paper assesses Moorcco's ability to promote its traditional diplomatic objectives within these new or renewed arenas. Sources for this paper include official documents and statements concerning Moroccan diplomacy, published interviews with its leading figures, and studies of recent Moroccan diplomatic initiatives and their reflections within domestic public life. Moving beyond obtaining a better understanding of Morocco’s current diplomatic affairs and their regional impact, this paper adds alternative perspectives to the study of Mohamed VI’s reign, expanding the contours of the debate surrounding this topic.

Despite the significance of the reforms Mohammed VI promoted in all aspects of Moroccan social, political and economic life, public opinion surveys show that Moroccans are profoundly dissatisfied. There is profound dissatisfaction about the state of the economy, the performance of government and corruption. Employing survey data from the Arab Transformations project the paper explains how the socio-economic reforms undertaken during Mohammed VI's reign did transform the Kingdom, but also left intact many o the problems affecting country.

After twenty years on the throne, Mohammed VI, and the Moroccan monarchy, are no longer immune from societal reproach. The Arab uprisings’ February 20th movement and subsequent social protests have managed to lift the veil of fear and to demystify the monarchy. These protests have led to the decentralization of social protests, moving from urban centers to peripheral regions in Morocco sharing common political and economic grievances, often triggered by accidental events. The Hirak protests, the ongoing seven-year old protests in the remote Amazigh village of Imider, the coal mine protests in the northeastern border town of Jerada, the water shortage demonstrations in the Sahara desert town of Zagora, and the unprecedented economic boycott of Morocco’s dairy, mineral water, and fuel distribution oligopolies that have close ties to the regime are all acts of civil dissent which have become quotidian performances of resistance against “hogra” that is seen as rampant in the Makhzen’s entrenched authoritarian edifice. These “Non-Movements” of peripheral protests in various regions of Morocco are rarely guided by an ideology or led by recognizable leaderships and structures, and have, most importantly, unmasked a new kind of dilemma for the monarchy: the failure of the regime’s dual strategy of appearing above the political fray, while at the same time, managing the political system and opposition forces. The monarchy’s constant manipulation of the political party scene and civil society has removed the buffer between the royal institution and the people, and has exposed the Palace to direct scrutiny. The monarchy’s increasing incapacity to constructively deal with social unrest has made it more prone to the use of old oppressive methods of control.