Politics of Appearances: Religion, Law, and the Press in Morocco

Muslim World Journal of Human Rights, Volume 4, Issue 2, 2007

22 Pages Posted: 5 Dec 2013 Last revised: 6 Dec 2013

See all articles by Ahmed Souaiaia

Ahmed Souaiaia

University of Iowa; University of Washington

Date Written: September 3, 2007

Abstract

Since the last several years of the life of King Hassan II, Morocco slowly moved from authoritarian rule to a managed democracy. As a result of this gradual political liberalization, religious groups as well as secular ones formed political parties. Islamists have already won seats in the parliament and they are expected to gain nearly half the number of seats in the coming elections. Equally significant is the increased presence of human rights and non-government organizations and the emergence of independent and party-affiliated newspapers and other media outlets. In this article, I focus on the prospects of seeing a free press emerging in Morocco given the pressures exerted by official and non-official authorities. I argue that government interventions stifle freedom of expression and weaken civil society. This study focuses exclusively on Moroccan Arabic and French language print media.

Keywords: freedom of the press in Morocco, freedom of expression in Morocco, religion and politics in the Muslim world, human rights in Morocco, human rights in the Muslim world

JEL Classification: O55

Suggested Citation

Souaiaia, Ahmed, Politics of Appearances: Religion, Law, and the Press in Morocco (September 3, 2007). Muslim World Journal of Human Rights, Volume 4, Issue 2, 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2363282

Ahmed Souaiaia (Contact Author)

University of Iowa ( email )

314 Gilmore Hall
Iowa City, IA 52242-1097
United States

University of Washington

Seattle, WA 98195
United States

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