Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
In an effort to smooth the way for Bouteflika’s successor, the Algerian elite are taking modest but significant steps to open the political sphere and undertake cautious economic reforms.
The Bouteflika regime hopes recent cabinet reshuffles will distract Algerians from fundamental political and economic issues.
In the Middle East, producers are facing different effects of the recent drop in oil prices. Four oil experts explore the impact of falling prices on the economies of key regional producers.
The power struggle between the Algerian presidency and DRS prevents any fundamental reforms that could address the underlying demands of police protesters.
The rise of ISIS gives Algeria an opportunity to regain the regional influence it lost following its failure to play an effective role in the Mali conflict.
The ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s election to a fourth term may have been widely expected, but few have a sense of what exactly will come next. How are the political elite laying the groundwork for this transition?
Regardless of the outcome of Algeria’s upcoming election, power will not escape the strong grasp of the country’s military and its security branch.
Algeria is often seen as averse to security cooperation, but it has been deeply involved in Africa’s security architecture for years.
Algeria’s political season exposes the deep divides within the country’s political class and power centers, and regardless of who wins the upcoming presidential elections, no significant reform measures can be expected.
The decision by Islamist parties to boycott the upcoming Algerian presidential elections exposes the fragmented and weak state of the movement.
The latest flare-up between Algeria and Morocco over Western Sahara is less about human rights than the two countries’ relative diplomatic power.
Given the grim prospects for resolving the crisis in Mali, North African governments will have to look South on security matters for years to come.
Le pouvoir is cracking down more forcefully on demands for greater freedoms and political change.
Algeria pulled off elections to international acclaim, but ongoing riots and self-immolations should not be ignored.
The US and EU should remember how the Arab Awakening started and throw out the pre-2011 rulebook, even in the countries that remain “stable.”
Reports of corruption, political power struggles, and questions about Bouteflika’s health reignite speculations about Algeria’s political future.
As Algeria approaches a presidential election, the young leader of an opposition party discusses the dilemmas associated with uncompetitive elections, lack of democracy inside parties, and efforts to mobilize youth.
Algeria has entered the countdown stage for the April 2009 presidential election, a critical test for its democratic experiment. Neither the rules of the game nor the candidates in the coming election are clear yet, but there are several possible scenarios depending on whether President Bouteflika will run and how the other political forces will react.
The May 21, 2003 earthquake that took some 2200 souls, wounded 10,000, and left 150,000 homeless has failed to jolt Algeria's political system out of its paralysis. The state's slow reaction to the disaster has further eroded President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's authority, with the result that a growing list of rivals may contest his bid for reelection in April 2004.
Is America serious about democracy and political reform in the Arab world? Does the neo-Wilsonian dimension of the Bush administration's policy toward the region presage a decisive departure from the longstanding realist policy of "regime maintenance"?