World Country Guide

History and Government

History
The original inhabitants of Morocco, the Berbers, have experienced a series of invaders over the centuries. The Phoenicians were the first of these in the 12th century BC, followed by the Carthiginians – who incorporated the littoral region into their extensive empire. When Carthage was subjugated by the Romans in the second century BC, the North African coast came under Roman control. After them came the Vandals in 429 AD and the Byzantines in 533 AD. The first Arabs arrived from the west in 682 AD and established a series of dynasties which have ruled Morocco ever since. As in much of North Africa, the conflict between Arabs and Berbers has been a central feature of the country’s history.

In the early 15th century, the rising maritime powers of southern Europe started to take an interest in North Africa. The port of Ceuta – now a Spanish possession – was originally occupied by the Portuguese in 1415. This early struggle for control between the Arabs and Europeans came to a climax at the battle of Ksar Kbir in 1578, at which the Portuguese led by King Sebastian were defeated by the forces of Sultan Abdul Malik, then head of the Saadian dynasty. This victory heralded an illustrious period of Moroccan history under the Saadian dynasty, during which the country became a major centre of artistic and scientific endeavour as well as enjoying considerable economic prosperity.

After the Saadians and the successor dynasty, the Alawites, Morocco came under growing European influence from the Spanish and then the French. At the end of the 19th century, the French occupied Morocco and, in 1912, at the Treaty of Fez, the Sultan was deposed and the country put under the control of a French Resident-General. The treaty was constructed to ensure that Spanish interests, principally in the form of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, were guaranteed.

An independence movement began almost immediately, backed discreetly by the royal family. But it was not until after World War II, in 1956, that Morocco finally achieved independence. Morocco’s first post-independence Head of State was Sultan Mohammad V, who later changed his title to King; in 1961, he was succeeded by his son, Hassan II. Until his death in 1999, Hassan held a firm grip on the country with a combination of repression and concession. For most of his rule, the most prominent opposition to King Hassan came from the Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires (USFP), an orthodox left-wing party. However, since the beginning of the 1990s, the Socialists have been overshadowed by emerging Islamic groups which have made particular headway in impoverished urban areas. Both Socialists and Islamists shared, for different reasons, a dislike of Hassan’s autocratic rule and his consistent alignment of Morocco with the West and the US in particular (the Americans maintain a variety of military facilities in Morocco).

The rise of the Islamists coincided with the introduction of a new constitution and the holding of popular legislative elections. Several national polls were held during the 1990s, all of which produced inconclusive results, as the poll split more or less evenly among four or five main parties. Hassan kept firm control of the executive by appointing a premier and cabinet (representatives of the Islamist parties were excluded): key executive decisions were taken by Hassan himself and an ‘inner cabinet’ of key ministers.

The most recent general election in September 2002 repeated previous results, with the difference that under a new electoral system of proportional representation, no less than 22 parties are represented in the new assembly. Of these, the three main players are the Union Socialistes des Forces Populaires, the centre-right nationalist Istiqlal, and the Islamic Parti de la Justice et du Développement. The new premier, the socialist Driss Jettou, announced his cabinet in November 2002 and pointedly excluded any Islamists from it, confining it to members of his own party and Istiqlal.

King Hassan had died three years earlier and was replaced by his son and heir Sidi Mohammed, who assumed the throne as King Mohammed VI. The new monarch appeared keen to adopt a more open, liberal image than his father, but in the first four years of his rule, few significant changes have been made. The ‘inner cabinet’ system of executive decision-making continues as before.
Moroccan foreign policy remains broadly pro-western, with close ties to the USA and the European Union, especially France and Spain (Hassan had even aspired to membership of the EU at one time). Closer to home, despite political differences with its North African neighbours, Morocco remains an enthusiastic member of the Union of the Arab Maghreb which it helped to create and functions as an effective regional lobby.

Morocco has two major territorial disputes to deal with. Both involve the Spanish, but in very different ways. In 1975, after the death of Franco, the Spanish pulled out of the colony then known as Spanish Sahara and now as Sahrawi. The Moroccans moved in almost immediately despite the objections of the indigenous Sahrawi people. For the next 16 years, until a UN-brokered ceasefire came into effect in 1991, the territory was the scene of a conflict between the Moroccan army and an indigenous guerrilla movement, the Polisario Front. The Moroccans believe the territory is an integral part of the nation. Polisario wants independence.

Since the ceasefire, Polisario has pursued its campaign almost exclusively through the United Nations. It has established a government in exile, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), based in Algeria, along with a Sahrawi national assembly. However, despite various initiatives mostly sponsored in one form or another by the United Nations, the movement appears to have made little progress towards its objectives. Polisario has pinned its main hope on a plebiscite in the territory: the issue of eligibility to vote then becomes crucial. The Moroccans have been steadily moving settlers into the region in the hope of eventually outnumbering the indigenous Sahrawi. A recent addition to this already potent mix has been reports of oil and gas fields in Sahrawi territorial waters. The US, backed by other Western powers, has proposed granting Sarhawi regional autonomy within Morocco. After initial rejection, Polisario accepted the autonomy plan in July 2003 as a precursor to a final referendum on the status of the territory. However, the Moroccan government responded coolly. The future of the plan is uncertain.

Morocco’s other outstanding territorial dispute concerns the Spanish-occupied enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast. These were originally annexed by Spain in the late 15th century and are now home to 120,000 Spanish nationals. They have a particular significance in recent Spanish history as the springboard for Franco’s campaign in the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish are determined to hold on to them and firmly reject any comparison with the status of British-run Gibraltar. The Spanish also hold a group of tiny, uninhabited islands strung along the northern coast. In July 2002, one of these, Perejil (‘Parsley’, after a wild form of the herb which grows there) was occupied by a token Moroccan force in a diplomatic stroke to raise the issue of Spanish possessions. A Spanish army unit rapidly retook the rock, but the Moroccan move had the desired effect.

Government
The monarch appoints the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to wield executive power under his supervision. A series of modifications have been made to the 1992 constitution concerning the bicameral legislature. The Chamber of Representatives (Majlis al-Nuwab) comprises 325 members, of whom 295 are elected by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies; the remaining 30 seats are reserved for women and are elected from national lists. The 270 members of the Chamber of Counsellors (Majlis al-Mustasharin) are indirectly elected by local councils (162), chambers of commerce (81) and trade unions (27) for a nine-year term.