#morocco

It took NATO 46 years and eight months before it intervened with military force to protect innocent civilians from harm and manage a conflict on its periphery. Can we truly expect the Arab League to move any quicker in dealing with problems in its neighborhood? Probably not. When NATO finally heeded the call from those […]

Anniversaries are dangerous days and dangerous moments. There is often a lot of celebrating, a flash of attention and then the sun goes down and life goes on as before. We properly celebrate an accomplishment from the past without real thought or determination on how to preserve and build on the celebrated triumph. So now […]

2011 has been a year filled with change, reform, progress and challenges across the Middle East and North Africa, Morocco included. As we anticipate what 2012 holds for the region, here’s a recap of key moments in 2011 for Morocco: February 20 – Thousands demonstrated across Morocco in solidarity with protesters in Egypt and Tunisia, […]

Morocco is often left out of the Arab Spring discussion by policymakers and the media, largely because the demonstrations in Morocco took place peacefully, there was no regime change and the reform process proceeded relatively swiftly and transparently. It is also due to the fact that Morocco wasn’t caught blind-sided by the push for change; […]

Today, in Washington, DC there was a really interesting roundtable, “What’s Next for Morocco? Assessing opportunities and challenges after the elections.” The experts on the panel were academics, think tank leaders and former US diplomats. (Click here for a full description of the event, the participants and the video.) I say “interesting” because the panel […]

There’s a LOT going on in the Middle East/North Africa this week—elections in Morocco and Egypt, unrest in Syria, crackdown on protesters in Bahrain…the list goes on.  Don’t have time to sift through all the commentaries and coverage?  No problem.  Let me break it down for you and give some highlights about what’s being said […]

Yesterday, Moroccans went to the polls for the first parliamentary elections after the Constitutional referendum earlier this summer. As I mentioned last week, there would be three questions to answer after the elections, so let’s see 1) What was the turnout? The official figure is 45%, which is definitely decent. (). The big fear was […]

As Morocco prepares for parliamentary elections this Friday, check out this campaign poster by the Party of Justice and Development (Islamists) from @__Hisham (a great person to follow on Twitter for insightful Morocco-related info, btw). It’s what some in Morocco are referring to as the PJD’s female “Dream Team.” It is, of course, interesting because […]

So, next Friday, Morocco will be the first country in the region to hold parliamentary elections since the Arab Spring. (Tunisia’s recent election, an Islamist-strong assembly was chosen to write the new constitution. Egypt will hold parliamentary elections on Monday, November 28 to choose members of both its legislative chambers.) Morocco hasn’t received as much […]

Reports coming out of Morocco and Jordan are both encouraging and frustrating.  Both Morocco and Jordan have been beset for months by growing popular demands for political, economic and social reform, after Arab uprisings overthrew leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and shook other regional states. However, unlike other Arab states witnessing popular uprisings, demonstrations […]

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s reminded the world of the unchanged US support for Morocco’s “serious, realistic, and credible” compromise autonomy proposal to end the three-decades old Western Sahara conflict.  Days after, two more countries officially withdrew recognition and support of the “Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic” (SADR) “the pseudo country” run […]

After three weeks of protests, where enthusiastic demonstrators took to the streets of Rabat, Casablanca, Agadir, Tangier, and Marrakech, demanding a freer and more transparent political process, word came that His Majesty King Mohammed VI would appear on state television to deliver a speech. I was on a bus from Agadir to Rabat when I got the news and I made a mad dash to reach the nearest television, hoping to hear what would be a historic oration.