Pragmatism rather than backlash : Moroccan perceptions of Western democracy promotion

Abstract

Democratisation has been the stated goal of many Western states’ policies in the Arab world since the end of the cold war.1 This aim became something of a foreign policy mantra after the Al Qaeda attacks of 11 September 2001 in New York: this and subsequent attacks in Madrid and London led Western governments to stress democratization in Arab countries as one way of addressing the “root causes” of terrorism. The West has not applied its democratizing zeal evenly across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, however. Morocco, as one of the most liberal regimes of the region and, simultaneously, both a victim of terror and the country of origin of some terrorists ac- tive in Western Europe, has been a main target of Western democracy promotion in recent years. Whether democracy promotion – including support for civil society, political parties and independent media, assistance to the parliament and the judiciary, electoral observation missions, positive and negative conditionalities, and public praise and criticism – has had any effect has been widely debated, within and outside the region.