Mohammed Masbah is no longer with the Carnegie Endowment.
Mohammed Masbah was a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center. He is a political-sociologist whose work centers on Salafism, political Islam, authoritarianism, and youth movements, with a focus on North Africa.
Prior to joining Carnegie, Masbah was a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, SWP) in Berlin, and worked on the project “Elite change and new social mobilization in the Arab world.” He previously served as an expert for the Moroccan minister of communication and he is also a PhD candidate in sociology at Mohammad V University in Rabat.
His most recent publications include “Salafis and the political process in Morocco” in Salafism After the Arab Awakening: Contending with People’s Power edited by Francesco Cavatorta and Fabio Merone (Hurst Publishers, 2015) and “Islamist and Secular Forces in Morocco: Not a Zero-Sum Game” (SWP Comments 2014/C 51, November 2014).
Many countries in the Middle East and North Africa still struggle to manage the coronavirus, but Morocco’s response suggests an important evolution in civil-military relations.
Morocco’s security-oriented approach to countering violent extremism leaves little room for rehabilitation efforts.
Morocco’s Justice and Spirituality movement has always existed outside the mainstream political arena, and there is little reason to expect that to change.
Five years after the outbreak of the Arab Spring, the uprisings have failed to fulfill the people’s aspirations for democracy, freedom, and social justice.
Through compromise and cooperation, Morocco’s king and the ruling Islamist Party of Justice and Development have figured out how to get along.
Modern jihadist organizations have taken advantage of continued instability to make themselves into territorialized organizations which frequently cross established state borders, such as the Islamic State.
Although Morocco is not immune to terrorism, the authorities’ exaggeration of the security threat does more to serve the Ministry of Interior than to fight terrorism.
Recent cases of violence at Moroccan universities expose the depth of the rift between Islamists and leftists, a rift that strengthens the regime’s hand.
The growing number of radicalized Moroccan fighters in Syria will complicate the resolution of the Salafi detainees issue in Morocco.
Weakened by the events of 2011, Morocco’s Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) is working to improve its reputation while avoiding the political frontlines.