Territory and Sovereignty
Morocco is a mountainous state in northwestern Africa that borders Spain on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar. The country’s geographic coordinates are 28 30 N and 10 00 W (The World Bank, 2022a). Moroccan territory is bordered by Algeria, Western Sahara, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea (The World Bank, 2022a). It is the only nation in Africa with coastlines that are exposed to the Atlantic and Mediterranean Seas. Its size is somewhat bigger than the territory of California in the United States, excluding Moroccan-controlled land in Western Sahara. Ceuta and Melilla, two little Spanish outposts, are located on the state’s north coast.
The monarch and his ministerial council have all the authority in this realm. All legislative pieces are signed by the King, and the National Assembly’s two-thirds majority can override his veto. He selects all judges by his orders, authorizes amendments to the constitution, wages war, and controls the military forces. He is the nation’s spiritual leader and a representation of its oneness. The monarch appoints the prime minister as head of the administration and has the authority to dismiss certain members at the prime minister’s request. Hence, within the scope of internal sovereignty, the right to rule de facto belongs to the King, as he concentrates most part of the political power.
However, it seems that there are some nuances in terms of Morocco’s external sovereignty. According to the UN, Morocco has the legal status of a non-decolonized country. Western Sahara is not recognized as being under anyone’s jurisdiction by the UN. Still, Morocco signed the act of joining the UN in 1956 (Brown, 2022), which was among the initial manifestations of the country’s external sovereignty. Morocco aspires to build connections with Western nations, particularly with US and EU member states. Morocco and the EU have agreed to establish a free trade zone with the inclusion of North African nations, allowing for the progressive elimination of trade restrictions. Morocco and the US, France, and Spain have a series of treaties on security cooperation (NATO members). The nation also takes part in the NATO program known as the “Mediterranean Initiative”. Morocco, a former French colonial territory, nevertheless has strong political, financial, and cultural links to France.
The situation around Morocco’s population can be described as follows. The country’s populace is anticipated to grow by 515,004 individuals in 2022, reaching 38,216,647 by the start of 2023 (Country Meters, 2022). Given that there will be 585,507 more birth than mortality, the natural growth should be positive. The nation’s size will decrease by 70,502 as a result of migration if foreign migration stays at its level from the preceding year (Country Meters, 2022). It implies that the number of individuals who travel from Morocco to another country to establish themselves continuously will outnumber those who go to the nation to establish themselves there permanently.
The entire size of the territory inside international borders includes both its land area and the area of all its surface waters. Morocco’s area covered is 446,550 square kilometers, which is evident from the UN data (Country Meters, 2022). The ratio of the entire people residing in a specific territory to the country’s total area is known as population density. Morocco’s populace was projected to be 37,701,643 as of 1 January 2022 (Country Meters, 2022). Therefore, there are 84.4 persons per square kilometer in Morocco.
The majority of the population of Morocco is either Imazighen or a combination of the two. The nation’s mountain areas are home to a sizable population of Imazighen, who have long-established refuges there where they may maintain their tongue and lifestyle (Laroui, 2022). The Reconquista, or the Christian reoccupation of the Iberian Peninsula in the fifteenth century, caused some portions of the people to flee from Spain. Sub-Saharan Africans were trafficked and enslaved into Morocco, and their successors today predominate in the southern oasis and the bigger towns. Jews made up a sizable portion of the population until the middle of the 20th century (Laroui, 2022). Then, many felt forced to leave the nation as a result of the establishment of Israel and the beginning of the Arab-Israeli war.
Legitimacy
In addition to freedom of speech, association, and press, voice and accountability encapsulate views of how much a nation’s citizens may take part in choosing their administration; Morocco’s percentile rank here is 30.43. The assessment of the chance that the government would be toppled or destructed by violent or illegal methods, such as terrorism, and violence motivated by politics, is measured by political stability and the absence of violence. In this regard, the state has a score of 35.38. Government effectiveness reflects a state’s trustworthiness in its dedication to improving or maintaining the governmental quality of service, administration, policy formulation, and policy implementation execution. Morocco’s percentile rank within this scope is 52.88 (The World Bank, 2022b).
Then, the regulatory quality index measures how well the public believes the administration is able to create and carry out solid laws and regulations. Morocco’s score within this described framework is 48.56. All people, institutions, and enterprises must obey the law according to the definition of the rule of law; the state’s percentile rank here is 50.96. Controlling corruption incorporates opinions on how much public authority is used for personal benefit; Morocco’s score here is 42.79 (The World Bank, 2022b).
All of the presented indicators are below average or average, which implies that Morocco’s government should improve its performance in terms of legitimacy. Particularly, the country has the lowest score in terms of freedom of speech, association, press, voice, and accountability. This means that Morocco has issues in the framework of implementing genuinely democratic policy. Insignificant indicators of governmental solidity and corruption show that the state’s administration is to rearrange its domestic political activities and adhere to more transparent practices.
Regime
According to Freedom House (2022), Morocco has scores of 13 and 24 for political rights and civil liberties, respectively. Hence, the general score is 37, which is below average and forces one to conclude that the state is only partially free. It should be stressed that being “partly free” implies that the ruling regime is not oppressive toward its citizens. Yet, their rights and interests are not addressed to the necessary degree so that the country can be viewed as free in the framework given. It seems that in Morocco, people have issues in terms of the realization of their electoral opportunities and the possibility of criticizing the current ruling. Their fundamental freedoms are not neglected but could have been respected much better – in accordance with the best international practices.
Party-system and Ideology
Since gaining its independence, Morocco has had a multi-party structure with several parties representing ideologies as diverse as the far-left and Islamists. The political parties pursue coalition administrations as a result of the Moroccan election system (Laroui, 2022). However, the King of Morocco appoints the Prime Minister from the party that wins a majority in the legislative elections, as well as the other four cabinet members.
At this point, Morocco’s situation around its political parties can be depicted as follows. In total, the state has thirteen political parties, and the National Rally of Independents, Authenticity and Modernity Party, and Istiqlal Party are the ones that have the most representatives (Brown, 2022). They adhere to the ideologies of classical liberalism, economic liberalism, and monarchism (National Rally of Independents); reformism, monarchism, and social liberalism (Authenticity and Modernity Party); conservatism and nationalism (Istiqlal Party). Such a state of affairs shows that the parties that have the majority of representatives have to center-right, right, and center positions. However, it should be admitted that there are many left-wing parties that form the semblance of opposition.
The specificity of the political system of modern Morocco is determined by the historical development of the state, its civilizational features, and the specifics of political culture. This was formed in the 20th century from the moment of gaining independence from the Kingdom and the subsequent rule of successive kings, representatives of one dynasty – Mohammed V, Hassan II, and Mohammed VI (Laroui, 2022). Democratization “in Moroccan style”, proclaimed by Mohammed VI, corresponds to the laws of evolution of political systems of a non-Western type and is based on a certain approach. The latter concerns the creation of modern democratic society with the provision of a wide range of rights and freedoms to a person. However, this takes into account the peculiarities of historical development, geopolitical reality, and Islamic religious values.
The model of democratization of the political system developed in Morocco considers national specifics, required the modernization of political institutions, changes in laws, and the application of international law. This does not mean the rejection of its traditional political structure – the monarchy. This means the observance of certain conditions associated with its limitation by the following parameters. This is the implementation of direct suffrage, a multi-party system, and a system of separation of powers.
However, according to Orvis-Drogus systematization of different contemporary regimes, Morocco is more likely to be a modernizing authoritarian state. Indeed, the country has a multi-party system, elections are held, there is a recognized opposition, and there is some public political discourse. Nevertheless, these procedures are so faulty that the system cannot be regarded as democratic (Orvis & Drogus, 2020), which is confirmed by the indicators presented in the other sections of the discussion.
State Strength and Stability
Security apparatus stands for the security risks to a state, such as terrorist attacks, bombs, assassination attempts, and deaths from combat, rebels, revolts, and coups. Morocco’s indicator here is relatively low – 4.6 – which shows Morocco’s significance in this vein. Factionalized elites indicator shows how governmental entities are divided along race, economic, family, or ethnic lines; the score is above average – 6.6. Group grievance is a complaint made by a number of people who have all been negatively impacted by the same governmental decision; the score here is high – 8.6 (Fragile State Index, 2022).
Economic inequality is the uneven distribution of wealth and opportunities among various social groupings; Morocco’s score here is low – 4.9. The human flight and brain drain indicator examine the financial effects of human emigration and the potential effects on a nation’s development. The score in this regard is relatively high – 7.4. The economy indicator – 5.9 – shows how significantly the country’s economic affairs are advanced (Fragile State Index, 2022).
People’s opinions and aspirations of the state, which are jointly produced by state actors and citizens, are what can be referred to as state legitimacy; Morocco’s score here is moderate – 6.8. The human rights indicator – 5.3 – reveals a great degree to which the population’s legitimate needs and requirements are respected and implemented. The public services score is 5.4, and this sheds light on how effectively the government administrates public affairs and addresses the related issues (Fragile State Index, 2022).
The refugees and IDPs index tracks both internal migration inside nations as well as refugee inflows into other nations; for Morocco, it is moderate – 5.0. The demographic pressures index – 4.7, which is relatively low – considers pressures on the state either from the populace itself or its surroundings. The external intervention index examines how external players affect a state’s ability to operate, notably in the areas of security and economy. Morocco demonstrates a moderate score here – 4.9 (Fragile State Index, 2022).
Thus, within the scope of state strengths and stability, the examined indicators reveal that Morocco is a relatively moderate state on its way to developmental advancement. In particular, the country has significant scores in terms of its security and demographic pressure. However, there are issues with the national brain drain, legitimacy, and group grievance. The latter indicators imply that the citizens do not express much willingness to reside in Morocco if there is the opportunity to emigrate – due to political reasons and an exact extent of oppression.
References
Brown, C. L. (2022). Morocco. Britannica. Web.
Country Meters. (2022). Morocco population. Web.
Fragile State Index. (2022). Morocco. Web.
Freedom House. (2022). Countries and territories. Web.
Laroui, A. (2022). Morocco. Britannica. Web.
Orvis, S., & Drogus, C. A. (2020). Introducing comparative politics (5th ed.). Sage.
The World Bank. (2022a). The world factbook: Morocco. Web.
The World Bank. (2022b). World governance indicators. Web.