Institutional reforms in North Africa

Abstract

The process of regionalization was conceived, in the case of Morocco, in order to tend to a series of socio-economic issues resulting from the centralized set up of the institutional body of the country. The disparities that the different regions of the country saw emerge required the inclusion of the “territory” as a key element in the socioeconomic balance of the country. This paper analyses the process of the “advanced regionalization” which was implemented in Morocco in 2015 and was backed by the country’s Constitution. It focuses on the current state of implementing advanced regionalization, the core challenges it involves and the contribution of the European Union as an international actor. The analysis relies on a qualitative approach. It consists of combining the outcomes of the review of the relevant documents (constitution, laws, statements, etc) with the results of a review of the literature focusing on the specific question of advanced regionalization. The main findings of the paper are that, on one hand, while slowly but steadily moving forward, the advanced regionalization will need more time in order to allow for its internal organization related issues to be solved and to thus aim towards more optimal results. On the other hand, and regarding the international aspect, the EU’s input proves limited to technical support.