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The Moor Next Door (34 unread)

July 26, 2010
11:56
Coups and elections in Africa (Pt. I)
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

The Economist recently published an article (with a thematic map and graph) about African elections and democracy and the emerging electoral norm in Africa which is closely related to an emerging anti-coup norm on the continent. Noting that the number of coups in Africa has dropped over the last decade, it references internal, people-power factors [...]
July 19, 2010
11:44
Rise & Fall, Push & Pull (Pt. VI, Addendum)
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Brian Whitaker — author of What Really Wrong with the Middle East and one of the best Anglophone journalists writing on the the region — has made a post in reply to “Rise and Fall, Push and Pull (Pr. VI)” as well as an interesting article from The Economist dealing with similar topics. Whitaker takes [...]
July 16, 2010
8:26
Rise and Fall, Push and Pull (Pt. VI)
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

On 18 April, 2010 Issandr of the Arabist wrote: “Late fascist”: A term I use to describe the political systems most of the Arab republics, in comparison to Franco’s Spain or Salazar’s Portugal in the late 1970s or similar regimes based on public mobilization where the original ideological edifice of the regime is spent. Will [...]
July 04, 2010
10:43
Relocation
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Many apologies to readers for the lack of posting of late. Till the end of July, this blogger will be in Geneva, Switzerland concerned with disarmament issues. Posting will be either brief and frequent or infrequent and long. The primitive series of posts, called “Rise and Fall, Push and Pull,” will continue and possibly conclude [...]
June 22, 2010
12:39
Rise and Fall, Push and Pull (Pt. V)
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

At Democracy Arsenal, Shadi Hamid ponders “The Political Romantics and the End of History” in light of Christopher Hitchens’s new memoir (with some emphasis added): For many of us, our politics is, or becomes, personal. Through politics, we wish to transcend politics. We want to believe we’re fighting for something that matters, rather than for [...]
June 17, 2010
19:32
Rise and Fall, Push and Pull (Pt. IV)
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Sports serve three Great Purposes: 1) To bring and keep groups together; 2) To distract (or release) group members from hardship, corruption, and other pedestrian and elite failures; and 3) To train the group for being set upon another group (or groups) — both mobilization and scapegoating. Sports are integral to building and maintaining ʿaṣabiyya. [...]
June 15, 2010
13:13
Rise and Fall, Push and Pull, Pt. III
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

France24 has made available a video tape showing the daily routine of AQIM fighters at an undisclosed location by an unnamed “defector” from the terrorist group. The summary is as follows: A video cassette obtained by FRANCE 24 contains rare images of Islamist militants in the remote Sahel desert. The exclusive footage shows a gathering [...]
June 09, 2010
14:05
Cocaine and west Africa
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Below is a useful map from the Economist on cocain trafficking in West Africa for the years 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The Economist writes: WEST AFRICA has become an attractive trade route for Latin America’s cocaine smugglers in recent years. On June 8th two tonnes (2000kg) of the stuff (with an estimated street value [...]
June 02, 2010
12:07
Algerian cabinet reshuffle, 29 May: II
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

This post is intended to follow up on, clarify and correct the previous posting on the 29 May cabinet reshuffle in Algeria. Alle’s previous comments are invaluable as well have been those of Algerians inside the country who have offered observations and opinions. Nouredine Yazid Zerhouni has lost his standing. His “move” from the all-powerful [...]
May 29, 2010
13:52
Algerian cabinet reshuffle, 29 May: I
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

For now, look to the TMND Twitter feed (see side bar and here) for analysis of the 25 May Algerian cabinet reshuffle which put Chakib Khelil and a few other Algerian Ministers out of work, while moving others. This is most likely intended to project the image that president Bouteflika is concerned about and taking [...]
May 28, 2010
14:24
More Fast Thoughts
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Nouakchott seems to be awash with rumors of a deal with France regarding a possible prisoner exchange. According to knowledgeable sources in and outside of Mauritania, rumors that Joyandet’s visit to Nouakchott would be used to press the Mauritanians to to meet AQIM’s demands over a Frenchman kidnapped in Niger are credible. These sources say [...]
May 26, 2010
13:16
Fast Thoughts
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

The three men sentenced to death for the Aleg killings were all operatives; of the three, Mohamed Ould Chabarnou is the most ideologically inclined from an intellectual perspective. Mohamed Ould Lemine al-Majlissi, who was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine, however, is of greater significance. Recall that Sidi Ould Sidina regarded al-Majlissi [...]
0:03
Quickly on the Aleg 3 verdicts
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

The three Mauritanians charged with, among other things, terrorism, premeditated murder and rebellion in the case of the Aleg tourist killings have all been sentenced to death (others received prison terms or were acquitted). It is possible for the sentences to be commuted to life in prison; executions are commonly commuted in Mauritania for tribal [...]
May 21, 2010
21:40
Trials and Visits
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Here are some highlights and thoughts from the last week in Mauritania (another post on issues beyond what is below is coming down the pipeline): Five of nineteen Mauritanians on trial for terrorism charges were sentenced this week. Among the nineteen are Sidi Ould Sidina, Mohamed Ould Chabarnou and Maarouf Ould Hiba who stand accused [...]
May 19, 2010
14:22
Islamist performance
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Charles Kurzman and Iqbal Naqvi have an article in the Journal of Democracy (April 2010, Vol. 21, No. 2) titled “Do Muslims Vote Islamic?” The central question is: “If Muslim majority countries hold free and fair (or at least competitive) elections, should we expect Islamic parties to dominate such contests?” Citing the usual past cases [...]
May 15, 2010
23:47
Rise and Fall, Push and Pull (Pt. II)
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

It is written: [. . .] group feeling gives protection and makes possible mutual defence, the pressing of claims, and every other kind of social activity. By dint of their nature, human beings need someone to act as a restraining influence and mediator in every social organization, in order to keep its members from (fighting) [...]
May 05, 2010
16:11
Rise and Fall, Push and Pull
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, Till by broad spreading it disperses to naught. It is written that tribal and nomadic peoples carry more group feeling (ʿaṣabiyya) than atomized sedentary types. In the towns, men grew weak and corrupt. They became complacent and decadent, falling as easy prey [...]
April 27, 2010
2:25
Book Review: Algeria since 1989
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

James D. Le Sueur’s Algeria since 1989: Between Terror and Democracy (Zed: 2010) provides for the most up-to-date reading on the Algerian Civil War since Algeria: Anger of the Dispossessed by John Philips and Martin Evans (Yale University Press: 2007). The book offers a comprehensive introduction to the country’s history since 1989, using English and French [...]
April 24, 2010
2:54
Lions and Foxes
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Let us think, broadly and beyond the short-term. Vilfredo Pareto once wrote: A society does best when there is a predominance of lions among the population as a whole and a healthy element of foxes in the leadership. The leadership must allow for new blood to avoid degeneration. In war more lions again rise to [...]
April 19, 2010
15:31
Thoughts RE: S. Hamid “Underestimating religious parties”
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

On 5 April, Shadi Hamid wrote: Yes, many Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood and Jordan’s Islamic Action Front, are dealing with internal divisions and struggling to devise a coherent response to regime repression. But, if that’s the case, then Islamist weakness reflects not their declining popularity but rather that Arab regimes are very good [...]
April 17, 2010
12:55
Arabization debate
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

A short post on the struggle among Mauritanian students over Arabic and French language will appear here sometime next week. Mauritanians on the front lines are encouraged to send the blogger their thoughts and accounts either in the comments field here or by email (found on the “About TMND” page). Contact with some students already [...]
12:52
RE: Shadi Hamid on Obama & Bush “nostalgia”
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Shadi Hamid of Brookings (Doha) had a op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor on 12 April looking at “nostalgia” for the Bush years among Arab reformers. It deserves some comment and consideration. While President Obama’s domestic position has been strengthened considerably by the passage of health-care reform, there is nothing – yet – to suggest [...]
April 05, 2010
0:42
Mauritania Update
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Three sets of observations on recent things related to Mauritania in terms of: (1) terrorism and the military, (2) Mali and (3) politics in general. On the whole, sources report general displeasure with the political situation among the political class, the tribes, among Afro-Mauritanians and parts of the military. This has been the trend, in [...]
March 24, 2010
13:05
The Israel Card in Mauritanian politics
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

This blog has written on the erosion of the Mauritania-Israel relationship before. This week Mauritania severed its relations with Israel formally after recalling its ambassador and taking on a brutal public rhetoric over a year ago. The move is significant in that it is a part of a broader trend in Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz’s [...]
March 23, 2010
11:01
Review: The New Authoritarianism
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Stephen J. King’s The New Authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa (Indiana, 2009) is a frank and tremendously useful study of how privatization and cosmetic democratization has strengthened authoritarianism in Algeria, Egypt, Syria and Tunisia over the last thirty years. Looking at economic and political reforms and their influence on political order in [...]
March 22, 2010
18:35
Good books
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Two new books worth reading: Why Intelligence Fails: Lessons from the Iranian Revolution and the Iraq War by Robert Jervis (Cornell, 2010) and The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War by Nicholas Thompson (Henry Holt, 2009). Jervis’s book is especially useful because it reproduces a CIA [...]
8:27
RE: Recent Paucity
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Responding to the following query: “Why have you not made any posts on the recent Sahel summit in Algiers?” 1. There has been more than adequate coverage of the meeting at Alex Thurston’s blog. This blogger has only minor quibbles with his analysis. 2. Terrorism poses a real threat to security and stability in the [...]
March 17, 2010
11:31
Parties in Parliament
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Three Algerian political parties have seen overall gains in their parliamentary representation over the last three parliamentary election cycles. These are the FLN, the PT (Workers’ Party) and the FNA (Algerian National Front). Among minor and opposition parties, the latter two have been most adept at raising their public profiles and fitting themselves into the parliamentary conversation. [...]
March 10, 2010
22:02
A Cabinet by the Numbers
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Again, because graphs are fun, here are three new charts (with the one posted as an update to the Addendum on regionalism) looking at Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia’s government. Note the large numbers of degrees in economics, law and engineering. “ENA” refers to École nationale d’administration d’Alger, the factory that churns out Algerian bureaucrats, diplomats [...]
March 09, 2010
16:19
Relationships I
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Quick, crude and simplified graphics showing the relationship(s) between the presidency and the military/intelligence service and the spread of supposed “clans” and their “turf” within the state structure. Note severe overlap. Clarifications/opinions, suggestions welcome on the second in particular. Neither intend to make definite claims but reflect general observations from news reports, conversations and widely [...]
0:18
Victor and Vanquished in Algerian Presidential Elections
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Here are some graphs showing some trends in recent Algerian presidential elections from 1995-2009. In themselves they say very little; but what they are interesting in that they chart Bouteflika’s progressive domination of the political scene by looking at the number of candidates, the percentage of the vote won by victors (i.e., Zeroual and Bouteflika) [...]
March 08, 2010
20:10
Islamist Bros, Brotherhood woes
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

Recent years have seen both triumphs and setbacks. Hamas, a Palestinian affiliate of the Brotherhood, won the Palestinian general election in 2006, forcibly ousted Fatah, its secular rival, from the territory a year later and has run the Gaza Strip since. Other close ideological kin include the leading opposition parties in Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco and [...]
March 07, 2010
14:24
Addendum on “Regionalism”
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

UPDATED: Scroll to the bottom to see an update and new chart. In response to the previous post on “regionalism” in Algeria, Houwari writes: The east also has proportionally more Algerians. The habitable strip narrows down as you go West. The East has more populous Wilayas, Setif and Constantine are thought to have overtaken Oran in population, [...]
March 05, 2010
15:45
Political Regionalism in Algeria: East side-West side?
» ‎ The Moor Next Door (algeria)

The degree to which regionalism, real or imagined, factors into Algerian political calculus is interesting. Many Algerians (and outside observers) discount regionalist tendencies in the leadership caste. The war generation tended to de-emphasize regional, ethnic and even religious differences to build consensus and nationalism. There are, nevertheless, tendencies for men from particular areas to have [...]

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The Moor Next Door (34 unread)