Human rights, political expediency and the war on terrorism : implications for Morocco

Abstract

Over the course of the last decade, the issue of human rights has become the focus of increasing attention across the developing world. This is almost certainly attributable to the increasing globalisation of the world economy and the overwhelming predominance of the major Western powers, particularly since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Without denying that there have been some positive developments with respect to human rights, the actual nature of the globalisation process, as it relates to these developments, is more complex - and more tenuous than many observers seem to believe. In effect, I feel that the evidence from most developing countries suggests that the human rights issue, and, indeed, the whole political liberalisation agenda, has been consistently subject to a principle that might best be described as political expediency. Both Western and regional actors have been quite happy to advance a reform agenda when doing so supports, or at least does not impinge significantly, on important economic and security-related interests. But, when these crucial interests have been threatened, the different actors have almost always responded by downplaying or even reversing this component of the globalisation process. I would further suggest that, in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States, it seems highly probable that political liberalisation, and perhaps human rights particularly, will be subordinated to security concerns for the foreseeable future. My purpose in this paper is twofold. First, I wish to make some general observations about how political expediency has helped to shape the globalisation dynamic, particularly with respect to the human rights issue. Second, I will examine how the concept of political expediency is useful for understanding recent developments and the present state of affairs with respect to Morocco. I have chosen Morocco as a case study because it has been deeply engaged in the globalisation process and because the issue of human rights has been a prominent feature of the political discourse there in recent years, particularly since the accession of Mohammad VI to the throne in July 1999.