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Lessons From Arab North Africa
| Article
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17293 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1990 |
5,724 Words |
| Author
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Mark Tessler
Mark Tessler is professor of political science and director of
the international relations program at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the author or coauthor of six
books, including Political Elites in Arab North Africa. He
also serves on the board of directors of the American
Institute of Maghribi Studies. |
The three countries of North Africa - Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco - are situated in the region that the Arabs call al-Maghrib, meaning the West, the land of the setting sun. The Maghrib is distinguished from al-Mashriq, which refers to the Arab East, the land where the sun rises.
Although there is sometimes a tendency to regard the Maghribi states as marginal participants in the Arab world's political and cultural system, this perception is erroneous in several important respects. First, Morocco and Algeria are both large and, after Egypt, the two most populous countries in the Arab world. With almost twenty-five million inhabitants each, they have more people than Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia combined, giving the Maghrib a significant measure of demographic and political weight in the Arab arena. Second, the Maghrib is deeply involved inter-Arab politics, often playing a leading role. For example, Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, has been the home of the Arab League since 1979. Also, Morocco is a frequent host of Arab summit meetings and the country's monarch, King Hassan II, is a recognized leader in inter-Arab diplomacy. At a social Arab summit convened in Casablanca, Morocco, in May 1989, for instance, Hassan was appointed to chair both a heads-of-state committee on Lebanon and special Arab League committee charged with furthering the Arab-Israeli peace process.
The Maghrib is also important because of its past and continuing ties to the West. Tunisia and Morocco have long been among the United States' staunchest allies in the Arab world. Both countries became independent in1956, and since that time each has been governed by a pro-Western regime that has cooperated with the United States on regional issues, with Morocco working especially closely with United States on questions relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. U.S.-Algerian relations, once strained, have been warming steadily for more than a decade, and commercial ties between the two countries have become particularly strong in recent years. All three North African countries also have close ties to Europe, more so than do any other Arab states. This is partly due to geographic proximity and partly the result of linguistic and cultural ties that developed during France's lengthy and intense colonization of the Maghrib. In addition, almost two million Maghribis work in Europe at the present time.
While the Maghrib is an important part of the Arab world and has strong ties to the United States and Europe, these are not the only reasons it deserves attention. The experience of North Africa offers an excellent opportunity to compare three
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