MER Article The Making of North Africa's Intifadas As the waves of protest inspired by Tunisia continue to roll across the Middle East and North Africa, analysts have remained puzzled by the mysterious timing, incredible speed and cross-national snowballing of these uprisings or intifadas. In the six months following the electrifying scenes of thous John P. Entelis, Laryssa Chomiak • 16 min read
Current Analysis Algeria's Rebellion by Installments In mid-February, with autocratic rulers deposed in Tunisia and Egypt, and another tottering in Libya, the National Coordination for Change and Democracy took to the streets in the capital of Algeria. The organization, which was created on January 21, following a series of riots in several cities acr Azzedine Layachi • 8 min read
Current Analysis Algeria's Midwinter Uproar Soon after the onset of protests which eventually toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, a wave of riots swept through Algeria as well, with many neighborhoods in the capital of Algiers and dozens of smaller cities overwhelmed by thousands of angry young men who closed down streets with burning Jack Brown • 10 min read
MER Article States of Fragmentation in North Africa Nearly 50 years after independence, the North African states of Algeria and Morocco face challenges to their national unity and territorial integrity. In Algeria, a Paul Silverstein • 18 min read
Current Analysis Bouteflika’s Triumph and Algeria’s Tragedy Shoes and pants soaked with rain, I tagged along with a journalist from the popular Arabic daily Echorouk—his paper my umbrella—while he visited polling stations in the Belcourt neighborhood of Algiers on the day of local elections in November 2007. At the first site, disgruntled party officials qui Jacob Mundy • 14 min read
Current Analysis Introducing Algeria’s President-for-Life Across nearly the breadth of North Africa, the head of state enjoys a lifetime appointment. Morocco has a king. In Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, president since 1987, pushed for a constitutional amendment removing term limits and has now announced a bid for a fifth term in office. President Husn Ahmed Aghrout, Yahia Zoubir • 13 min read
MER Article Evans and Phillips, Algeria Martin Evans and John Phillips, Algeria: Anger of the Dispossessed (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007). Jacob Mundy • 6 min read
MER Article After the War Spring in Algeria was unseasonably wintry. After all the rain and snow, the city parks of Algiers were a profusion of color and birdsong in the summertime, the countryside a vibrant shade of green. Wildflowers surrounded the parking enclosure at the busy new international airport. “Things are coming along,” says James McDougall • 23 min read
Current Analysis An Algerian Presidential Free-for-All The Algerian presidential elections coming up on April 8 have captured the imagination of the electorate like never before—because, at least in theory, one cannot predict the winner. In previous elections, the results were known long before polling day, and Algerian voters, in effect, only rubber-stamped decisions made behind Youcef Bouandel • 11 min read
MER Article Learning Lessons from the Algerian War of Independece On May 9, 2002, Tony Judt, professor of history at New York University, began an essay on Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation with a quote from Raymond Aron’s book on the 1954-1962 Algerian War of Independence from French colonial rule. [1] France, Aron argued, could not impose its administ Nancy Gallagher • 12 min read
Current Analysis Algeria: Flooding and Muddied State-Society Relations On November 10, 2001, heavy rains flooded many parts of Algeria, causing hundreds of deaths and damaging thousands of houses and businesses, mostly in the neighborhoods of Bab el-Oued, Frais Vallon and Beaux Fraisier in western Algiers, capital of the country. The torrential downpour, which ironically followed a national prayer Azzedine Layachi • 6 min read
MER Article An Interview with Daho Djerbal From May to early July 2001, massive protests rocked the Berber areas (Upper and Lower Kabylia) of Algeria, spreading on several occasions to Algiers and other major cities. On June 14, perhaps a million Kabyles “marched for democracy” in the capital, sparking clashes with police and leading the gov Chris Toensing • 3 min read
