Morocco changes offer U.S. “very important opportunity”

significantly contrary to what the vast majority of Moroccans have come to expect in terms of being able to exercise their own personal liberties. In terms of foreign affairs, it is unlikely that PJD will seek any fundamental changes in Morocco’s major priorities. Morocco enjoys very good relations with both the United States and Europe, and PJD has made clear already that it intends to continue to strengthen those relations as well as concentrate greater attention with the nations of sub-Saharan Africa and its potential partners in North Africa. Morocco’s strategic goal of seeking greater cooperation and integration of the Maghreb through the Arab Maghreb Union will also remain a priority objective for the country’s foreign policy. On the issue of Western Sahara, PJD, like nearly all other political parties in Morocco, is firmly committed to maintaining Morocco’s sovereignty in its southern Saharan provinces.

HSNW: Finally, what are the implications for the United States? That is to say, will Morocco continue to maintain friendly relations with the United States or Europe, or will it shift to prioritize its Middle Eastern neighbors?

RH: The violence that has accompanied events in the region over the past year have been absent in Morocco largely as a result of efforts led by King Mohammed VI to respond progressively and positively to demands in Moroccan society for greater participation and more attention to issues of social inequality. This has made of Morocco not only an “exception” in the region, but also has cast the country as a model for others seeking to achieve the same results in their own societies.

For the West, and especially for the United States, Morocco’s success thus far represents a very important opportunity, if the United States and its partners in Europe can muster the political will and develop new and innovative means to effectively address the issues, to demonstrate that the West can be a useful and supportive partner. 

Continued success in Morocco will help establish an effective example in the region of how basically conservative societies can transform into more open and participatory political systems that enhance security and establish a new stability for the region through less repressive means. On the other hand, failure in a country as well advanced as Morocco would certainly play into the hands of those in the region committed to other models for governing society based on authoritarianism.

The question here is whether the United States and its partners in Europe will be able to muster the political will and learn quickly enough to adopt innovative measures to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities and meet the very daunting challenges taking place through these often violent revolutionary events throughout the region. The answer to that question is far from certain. Much of the American population is weary with very costly U.S. engagements in the region after what can only be described as failed or failing policies in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and in the Middle East peace process between Israel and Palestine. Not only are most Americans weary and highly skeptical of any new commitments in the region, but they are also nearly entirely preoccupied with what many consider as highly threatening and uncertain economic dangers to their own very personal economic and social circumstances at home. Much the same can be said of Europe where the threats of financial collapse of the Euro system, a serious recession and chronic unemployment are equally pressing on both governments and the people of the continent. The need for Western engagement to protect its own critical interests in the Middle East at what will clearly become, for better or worse, a watershed moment in the region’s history is evident. But what is far from evident is whether the will exists to become seriously engaged in the project and whether the U.S. and its partners in Europe can learn quickly enough how to break with their own perhaps too well established patterns of “business as usual” in the region and adapt to the changing circumstances. On this, the jury is still out and early signs are not especially promising.

For Morocco, it is not a choice between the West and the Middle East, it is what best serves the national interests of the country. Both the incoming head of government and the King have stated that their relationships with the region and internationally will remain the same.