Civil society, Islamism and democratisation: the case of Morocco

The positive role that an active civil society plays in processes of democratisation is often highlighted in the literature. However, when it comes to the Middle East and North Africa, such activism is considered to be detrimental to democratisation because the predominant role is played by Islamist groups. The explanation for this rests with the perceived ‘uncivil ’ and undemocratic Islamist ethos of such groups. This paper challenges this assumption and argues that Islamist associations can be a potential force for democratisation for three reasons. First, they are capable of political learning; secondly, they generate secular civil society activism as a response to their activities, increasing the number of actors in the political and social system; and finally, they can cooperate with other civil society groups on a number of issues, given that they are all subject to the same authoritarian constraints. The paper focuses in particular on the case of Morocco and the Islamist group Jamiat al-Adl wal-Ihsan. I N T R O D U C T I O N The literature on democratisation pays much attention to the concept of civil society and its presumed ability to foster and sustain the democratic process. In fact, studies on processes of democratisation often highlight the positive role that an active civil society plays in transitions from authoritarianism. Thus, ‘building a robust civil society is ... postulated as a precondition for democratisation and democratic consolidation’ (Sardamov 2005: 380). This has important repercussions at both scholarly and policymaking levels. Academically, the focus is on ‘ the zone of voluntary associative life beyond family and clan affiliations but separate from the state and the market ’ (Hawthorne 2004: 5), in order to understand the * Lecturer in Politics, School of Law and Government, Dublin City University. The author is grateful to Robert Elgie and three anonymous referees for their comments on earlier drafts. The usual disclaimers apply. The author also acknowledges the financial aid received by the School of Law and Government Research Committee and in particular Dr Gary Murphy. J. of Modern African Studies, 44, 2 (2006), pp. 203–222. f 2006 Cambridge University Press doi:10.1017/S0022278X06001601 Printed in the United Kingdom positive impact on political change, particularly in terms of democracy training, that civil activism entails. From a policy-making point of view, the expansion of civil society has become the preferred tool to generate political change for both external donors and domestic opposition (see Carothers 1999). This has profound consequences in terms of how the domestic opposition is structured, and how external donors provide programmes aimed at promoting and sustaining non-governmental organisations in target countries to achieve democratic reforms at the macro level. There is no doubt that the usefulness of civil society to generate political change may be overemphasised (see Tempest 1997), but it still occupies a prominent position in the literature, and its protagonists are convinced of the validity of the causal mechanism between expanding civil society and democratisation. The Middle East and North Africa has not escaped examination regarding the relationship between the state’s authoritarian nature and the strength or weakness of civil society. Indeed, one of the strongest conclusions emerging from such studies has been that civil society in the region was too weak to have a positive impact on democratic reforms, and that ‘ the state financial and coercive power remains strong and far superior to resources available to its social, economic, and political opposition’ (Abootalebi 1998: 46) within society. While this analysis (see Filaly-Ansary 2002) may contain some truth for certain countries, it should also be underlined that it has been contradicted by other scholars who convincingly argue that civil society activism is quite strong in large parts of the region. In particular, Norton (1995–96) demonstrated that Middle Eastern civil societies, far from being ‘quiet ’ and passive, were indeed surprisingly active. In an interesting academic U-turn, it was then argued that democracy was not occurring in the region precisely because civil society was too vibrant and had an authoritarian nature, due in large part to the fact that much of the activism seemed to originate from Islamist movements (see Volpi 2004). This study challenges the conventional wisdom that Middle Eastern and North African civil societies are inherently authoritarian because of the role that Islamist movements and associations play. It argues instead that some of these movements can be a potential force for democratic change, in the light of four variables. First, their political discourse is often couched in the language of democratic procedures, and emphasises the need to structure society on accountable political institutions in opposition to the incumbents’ authoritarianism. Secondly, the internal structure of most of these movements is surprisingly reliant on democratic procedures, with a considerable role played by ordinary members (see Mishal & Sela 204 FRANC E S CO CAVATORTA