Abstract
Stanford Social Innovation Review, Stanford University, Fall 2005.
Since 2003, President George “W. Bush has been pushing for a “democratic revolution” that would transform the Middle East; the U.S. invasion of Iraq was painted as a bold push in that direction. Yet in another Mideast country, gradual steps toward democratization are being made without much fanfare.
Morocco is not a nation that screams “budding democracy.” A small country that has been coming to grips with its dark post-colonial history (from 1956 to 1999, thousands of people were “disappeared” or assaulted), Morocco is ruled by a king under a constitutional monarchy. It now boasts an elected parliament–the first free and fair elections were held in 2002–but the king still has ultimate authority.
But Moroccans are learning to demand and play a larger role in their country. One of the main drivers behind this change is Morocco's thriving community of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), writes investigative reporter Mark Macnamara in his fall 2005 Stanford Social Innovation Review article, “Imagining a Democracy.”
Democratization is in large part about hearing new voices–and the rising civil sector in Morocco is a veritable chorus. Today, Morocco has more than 33,000 registered NGOs, with missions that deal with issues as diverse as human rights, labor migration, poverty, and pedophilia. “For years, NGOs and political parties were umbilically linked–NGO leaders were invariably political bosses and the organizations themselves served to get out the vote and otherwise represent ideological reform,” Macnamara writes. But with major political parties in disarray, that link has been severed, and the divergence “has become the new dynamic that may lead to real change.”
Since decoupling themselves from their political patrons, NGOs have had to look abroad to secure funding, which can pose its own dilemmas. Mountada Al Mouwatana (Citizens Forum), a Casablanca-based NGO founded by “a potpourri of former party leaders, human rights activists, and concerned citizens [who] share a common vision of forging democratic change,” receives part of its funding from the congressionally funded U.S. nonprofit National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The Moroccan forum, intent on maintaining its independent voice, initially hesitated to accept funding not just from NED, but from all foreign sources. ‘”But we finally decided that so long as we are the ones to identify our purposes and objectives, and the methods of work, then it was OK,’” one of the forum's founders explained.
To be sure, there are significant obstacles to nourishing democratization in Morocco, including a high illiteracy rate, the absence of a critical media, and a distrust of government, Macnamara says. But “Morocco and what is happening here may contain vital clues for the shape of the future in this troubled part of the world.” Macnamara is light on discussion on what lessons from Morocco might be applied elsewhere, but the implication is that, when it comes to promoting democracy, funding NGOs can create an effective grassroots coalition of the willing.