Algeria's transition to what?1

Bibliographic Data

ID3979536
AuthorsWilliam B Quandt (corresponding author), William Quandt
Year2004
Volume9
Issue2
Pages82-92
Publication date2004-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1362938042000323356
OpenAlexW2258637230
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited1

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes This article is adapted and updated from ‘Algeria's Uneasy Peace’, Journal of Democracy 13/4 (Oct. 2002). See M'Hammed Boukhobza, Octobre 88: évolution ou rupture? (Algiers: Editions Bouchène 1991) pp.49–68. Abed Charef, Algérie: le grand dérapage (Saint-Amand-Montrond: Editions de l'Aube 1994) pp.6–41. Séverine Labat, Les islamistes algériens: entre les urnes et le maquis (Paris: Editions du Seuil 1995) pp.95–127; Ahmed Rouadjia, Les frères et la mosquée: enquête sur le mouvement islamiste en Algérie (Paris: Editions Karthala 1990) pp.111–39. Lahouari Addi, L'Algérie et la démocratie: pouvoir et crise du politique dans l'Algérie contemporaine (Paris: Editions la Découverte 1994) pp.160–83. Addi, p.188, puts forward the idea of a ‘regression féconde’, meaning that if the FIS had been allowed to assume power it would have had the effect of demystifying and discrediting the Islamist movement, paving the way for real democracy in future elections. In a sense, the extremism of the Islamists in the mid-1990s had the effect of discrediting them in the eyes of many, without their ever coming to power. For a lengthier treatment of these issues, see William B. Quandt, Between Ballots and Bullets: Algeria's Transition from Authoritarianism (Washington, DC: Brookings 1998) pp.53–61. Mahfoud Nahnah, the strongest of the Islamist candidates, was barred from running on a technicality concerning his participation in the revolutionary struggle. William B. Quandt, ‘Algerian Puzzles’, EUI Working Papers, European University Institute, Florence. Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 2002) pp.254–75. Hugh Roberts, ‘Musical Chairs in Algeria’, MERIP Press Information Note 97, 4 June 2002. The Constitution does state that if a finance bill is not passed by both houses within 75 days, the president can pass it by decree. Bernard Lewis, ‘Islam and Liberal Democracy’, Atlantic Monthly (Feb. 1995) pp.89–98. Luis Martinez, La guerre civile en Algérie (Paris: Karthala 1998) pp.23–6. Martinez concludes his important book, p.377, with the following summary: ‘Of the factors capable of explaining Algeria's descent into civil war after its short multiparty experience in 1990–91, the most central is the “imaginaire de la guerre”. We have shown that the failure of the “democratic transition’ in Algeria is explained by the belief in the virtues of violence as the means of changing leadership”. William B. Quandt, Revolution and Political Leadership: Algeria, 1954–1968 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 1969) pp.148–74. Giacomo Luciani, ‘The Oil Rent, the Fiscal Crisis of the State and Democratisation’, in Ghassan Salamé (ed.), Democracy Without Democrats? The Renewal of Politics in the Muslim World (New York: I.B. Tauris 1994) pp.130–55. For a thoughtful discussion of these possibilities, see Omar Belhouchet, ‘ANP et l'Algérie’, El Watan, 24 June 2002. Dankwart Rustow, ‘Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model’, Comparative Politics (April 1970) pp.337–63

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