Contentious Politics in the Maghreb

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This book explores the recent popular mobilization in the Arab world, using the Francophone Maghreb countries of Tunisia and Morocco as cases. A comparison of the social and economic developments in these countries in recent history demonstrates important similarities in terms of economic restructuring and liberalization. While key groups in both societies had seen income disparities increase and their relative economic status come under pressure, the uprisings in the two countries took two very different paths. One lead to regime change and the other lead only to modest reforms. This book argues that we have to move beyond the economic perspective and look at features such as regime structure, previous history of reforms, the role of civil society, education, and income levels, to better understand these variations. The ways in which opposition was organized, and the role of new social media in disseminating new ideas, are also essential to understand these episodes, and the broader wave of unrest that has shaken several Arab countries.