El Islam político en Marruecos. Dos estrategias enfrentadas: participación institucional frente a oposición desde fuera

Abstract

Because of the weakening of political opposition forces and as a result of his big capacity to mobilize the masses, Political Islam is nowadays one of the mayor challenges that Arab regimes have to face. In the Moroccan case, the Islamists have entered into a field that the Alaui monarchy had traditionally used for its political legitimation: the religious domain. After analyzing the main socio-economic and political causes that have created a favourable environment for the establishment of Islamism, this article is focused on the study of the two main moderate Islamist movements, that have explicitly renounced violence: the Justice and Development Party (PJD) and Justice and Spirituality (JS). This article examines their different strategic options and the consequences that they entail for their own movements and for the Moroccan political system. The article concludes that the true opposition to the Moroccan regime comes with Justice and Spirituality. It is the Yassine’s movement the political force which has better escaped from the political strategies designated by the king and the government in order to contain the Islamist phenomenon.