Publication

This paper highlights the reasons why the Moroccan monarchy survived the Arab Spring uprisings. They include 1) the religious and historical legitimacy of the monarchy; 2) the latter’s tried and tested strategy of “divide and rule”; and 3) the cooption of crucial political actors within a context of widespread “depoliticization through technocratization.” Other, less prominent factors included repressive political and security practices, ideological disputes within the opposition, and anti-liberal economics.