In an interview with the “world”, the researcher evokes, three years after the election of Abdelmadjid Tebboune to the Presidency of the Republic, the springs and the pillars of the longevity of power in Algiers.
Interview by Madjid Zerrouky
Three years after the election of Abdelmadjid Tebboune as president of the Republic, in December 2019, and sixty years after the independence of the country, the Algerian power seems again tempted by a repressive turning point. Author of Understanding The Persistence of Comptetitive Authoritarianism in Algeria (Palgrave Macmillan, not translated), Dalia Ghanem is an analyst at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUiss).
Three years after having faced an uprising popular, how to characterize the power regime in Algiers? You speak of “competitive authoritarianism” …
It is a mixture between elements of pure and hard authoritarianism and elements of democracy. There are elections, but they will never be transparent. There is a press, but it will never be free enough. There are political parties, but they will never be able to threaten the Algerian regime.
The latter has never intended to democratize. Including in 1988, at the time of the introduction of multipartyism after deadly riots. This opening was forced, he had to adapt to survive. These are diets with leaders who are intelligent enough to admit that, sometimes, survival depends on its ability to open.
In 2011, the power in Algiers quickly understood that the waves of the Arab Spring were going to hit him and he was very responsive. He had a financial windfall to use; He distributed billions of dollars; He has initiated some institutional reforms. Women have entered Parliament…
You write that this regime is based on five pillars – army, opposition cooptation, fragmentation of civil society, hydrocarbon and repression rent – which allowed it to withstand and adapt. First of all, there is the army …
From the war of independence, the army had control over politics. From President Houari Boumédiene (1965-1978), military security was put at the center of the system. It has grown in power and literally controlled all aspects of the life of Algerians. Then arrives Chadli Bendjedid (1979-1992), which was presented as a civilian even if it was a pure product of this army. Then the rape of the urn results occurred in 1992 (interruption of the electoral process), with an army that returns to the fore. set back. Apparently…
It is an army that understood that you should not stay too long on the spotlight. During the 2019 crisis, which led to the resignation of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika (1999-2019), the soldiers staged themselves too much-with the daily appearances of the chief of staff on television. Before understanding that they had to give the reins to a civilian. This is why they insisted that there is a presidential election quickly. This is the best. They do not want to be held responsible for economic and social fiasco. It is an army that does not governs day by day, but it manages the country in matters of defense, security and foreign policy.
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