In North Africa the year 1999 was marked by the arrival in power of Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algeria and by the death of the king of Morocco, Hassan II. These events occurred in a region beset by a number of social and institutional bottlenecks, such as bipolarization of the political scene between the military and the Islamists or the persistence of an increasingly challenged authoritarianism. Nonetheless a change in the situation is perceptible: thus the Islamists’ fresh willingness to move towards a compromise with the political authorities, along with the Maghreb’s geopolitical shift towards the United States and the major international organizations, testify to the region’s evolution towards more political liberalization and opening-up of its economy. In this new context the men who recently came to power will still have to take up the two great challenges of stabilizing the domestic situation in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia and improving regional integration in North Africa.

This content is published in French - Esquisse d'un changement politique au Maghreb ?