• Research
  • About
  • Experts
Carnegie India logoCarnegie lettermark logo
AI
{
  "authors": [
    "Anouar Boukhars"
  ],
  "type": "other",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
  ],
  "collections": [
    "Arab Awakening"
  ],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "menaTransitions",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "MEP",
  "programs": [
    "Middle East"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "North Africa",
    "Morocco"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Political Reform"
  ]
}

Source: Getty

Other

Morocco’s Islamists: Bucking the Trend?

Morocco’s peculiar political realities and the ruling Islamist party’s patient and non-threatening formula for political change have so far allowed the Islamist experiment to limp along.

Link Copied
By Anouar Boukhars
Published on Jun 6, 2014

Source: FRIDE

Like their Islamist counterparts in Egypt and Tunisia, Morocco’s party of Justice and Development (PJD) rode the 2011 wave of popular protests to become the largest party in parliament (winning 107 of a total of 395 seats). That result forced an unenthusiastic King Mohammed VI to appoint the PJD’s leader, Abdelillah Benkirane, to head a new government in November 2011. By the summer of 2013 however, Islamists’ political fortunes everywhere were hitting a low ebb. From the Muslim Brotherhood's dramatic fall in Egypt to the fracturing of its affiliate in Jordan, along with the resignation of Islamist parties from governments in Libya (Justice and Construction Party) and Tunisia (Ennahda movement) in early 2014 (for very different reasons), Islamists seem to have lost the political initiative of the ‘Arab spring’. Only Benkirane is still hanging on to his job, having survived months of political deadlock after the withdrawal of the pro-palace Istiqlal party from the governing coalition in early July 2013...

This policy brief was originally published in FRIDE. Read the full text on the FRIDE website.

About the Author

Anouar Boukhars

Former Nonresident Fellow, Middle East Program

Boukhars was a nonresident fellow in Carnegie’s Middle East Program. He is a professor of countering violent extremism and counter-terrorism at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University.

    Recent Work

  • Article
    Islamic Authority and Arab States in a Time of Pandemic
      • +3

      Frederic Wehrey, Nathan J. Brown, Bader Al-Saif, …

  • Commentary
    A Different Type of Alliance

      Anouar Boukhars

Anouar Boukhars
Former Nonresident Fellow, Middle East Program
Political ReformNorth AfricaMorocco

Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie India

  • Paper
    India’s Sustained Economic Recovery Will Require Changes to Its Bankruptcy Law

    As India’s economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, Indian businesses need efficient financial structures to regain their ground. Key reforms to India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code could fill these gaps.

      Anirudh Burman

  • Paper
    Cross-Border Data Access for Law Enforcement: What Are India’s Strategic Options?

    Access to cross-border data is an integral piece of the law enforcement puzzle. India is well placed to lead the discussions on international data agreements subject to undertaking necessary surveillance reforms.

      Smriti Parsheera, Prateek Jha

  • Article
    The BRI in Post-Coronavirus South Asia

    After the coronavirus pandemic wanes, how will China’s reorientation of the Belt and Road Initiative to address global health concerns influence its relationships with South Asian countries?

      Deep Pal, Rahul Bhatia

  • Commentary
    India’s Unheeded Coronavirus Warning

    Early in the outbreak, government researchers forecast several high-risk scenarios that were downplayed or ignored in public messaging.

      Gautam I. Menon

  • Article
    Intrusive Pandemic-Era Monitoring Is the Same Old Surveillance State, Not a New One

    Governments around the world are turning to new forms of digital surveillance to monitor the spread of the coronavirus, though they are mostly using existing laws to do so.

      Anirudh Burman

Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie India
Carnegie India logo, white
Unit C-4, 5, 6, EdenparkShaheed Jeet Singh MargNew Delhi – 110016, IndiaPhone: 011-40078687
  • Research
  • About
  • Experts
  • Projects
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • For Media
Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie India
© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.