Luis Martinez begins his new book, The State in North Africa: After the Arab Uprisings, with the dissolution of the Libyan state and the civil war that has followed it. In many ways, this event forms the intellectual core of the book, serving as both a key case study and a potential “worst case scenario” for the other states of the Arab Maghreb considered. Although many works published in the decade since the social explosion in Tunisia spread throughout North Africa have focused on the protest movements (and with them the ideologies, identities, and interests of the citizens who comprised them), Martinez focuses on the target of these movements: the state itself.
The first two chapters provide a sweeping but convincing history of the North African states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. The author argues that top-down efforts to build national cohesion and control resulted in “security states” that prioritized cohesion over liberty and promised economic development in return for “reshaping mentalities.” At times the retelling takes on a grand historical frame, eliding some of the nuances between countries. It is, however, punctuated by quotes from post-independence leaders and makes for interesting, if somewhat stylized, reading.
Martinez reiterates briefly a familiar set of ills besetting the countries: rapid urbanization, unequal development, environmental degradation, and crony capitalism. The author discusses the difficulties each country has faced after independence, cataloging the major challenges in the late twentieth century. The Algerian regime survived civil war in the 1990s, leaving citizens fearful of another outbreak of violence. Morocco allowed a partial liberalization, with a flourishing of civil society but not full democratization. Tunisia enjoyed economic success and struggled with employment and redistribution. Libya faced corruption and disillusionment from its people despite oil wealth and warming relations with the United States and the European Union.
From here, Martinez provides what is the most salient and most likely to be cited section of the book: a series of critical case studies of the four countries under consideration from the perspective of state cohesion and threats to stability. Although the author discusses economic and social conditions, his focus remains on the security sector, including borders and threats from simmering insurgencies. Readers more interested in economic fragility or cultural cleavages may find the case studies lacking, but scholars approaching state sovereignty from a conventional Weberian perspective will be well served. For Martinez, the threats from these insurgencies, their porous movements across borders, and their status as nonstate sites of violence are the main challenges faced by the states.
The author assumes that the readers have familiarity with the intricacies of Islamist politics in the region, especially the multiple configurations of Islamist parties that compete for seats in parliaments, Salafi and other currents largely outside politics, armed insurgents focused on claiming territory, and transnational groups that use terrorist tactics. The nomenclature can be dense, with the author sometimes shifting between terminology for the so-called Islamic State group (ISIS and Daesh). The argument would be stronger if it explained better how terrorism is specifically threatening to the state. In recent years, only in Libya have any Islamist insurgent groups made headway in seizing territory in an anti-systemic way, whereas other Islamist movements have shown themselves willing to operate within conventional political boundaries, be they semi-authoritarian (Morocco) or emergent democratic (Tunisia).
Martinez also spends some time discussing the largely failed plans for regional integration. While rightly noting the economic development and reduced tensions that integration could bring, this section is perhaps more optimistic about the possibilities of integration than many observers of both the Arab Maghreb Union and Qadhafi’s proposed United States of Africa. The Arab Maghreb Union has been largely moribund for decades. Although states have attempted to revive it several times, efforts to make it a strong international institution have collapsed because of the tensions between the member countries. Similarly, the author discusses Qadhafi’s plans in sub-Saharan Africa that resulted in economic development in some regions. Yet those plans never reached fruition and also provided support for insurgents in several countries. In contrast to these local efforts at integration, the author does rightly point to the security logic that undergirded trans-Mediterranean efforts of the European Union in North Africa. These interventions almost always focused on stemming migration, sometimes violently.
The author puts great causal weight on Operation Serval, the 18-month French military intervention in Mali launched in early 2013. This operation barely features at all in recent published accounts of the aftermath of the Tunisian, Algerian, and Libyan revolutions. Martinez argues that the operation may have badly backfired, consolidating Islamist opposition and alienating communities in the North African states. If Martinez’s assertion that anti-French sentiment and the “flushing out” of Islamist forces from this region constitute a realignment of regional politics, scholars of domestic politics in the North African states would do well to take it into consideration.
Throughout the book, Martinez raises possible alternatives (or threats, depending on your perspective) to the existing states in North Africa. From powerful international institutions (either local or created by the European Union), to subnational polities (as is playing out in Libya), to ambitious plurinational constructions undertaken in other postcolonial states, these alternatives are pointed to but not deeply explored. The author offers here important avenues for further research on what alternatives exist to the present-day configuration of states in the region.
Martinez offers a serious look at the state of the state in North Africa. With useful summaries of recent challenges in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, portions of the book would be well suited to both specialists and nonspecialists (inside or outside a classroom setting). Scholars of comparative politics in the region will be challenged by Martinez’s foregrounding of transnational forces, especially those in the security realm. Although the emphasis on security in the second half of the book muddles the focus on state- and nation-building that characterizes the first half, the assertion that foreign intervention, border security, and territorial threats from Islamist movements constitute a serious threat to the state is worthy of consideration. Scholars would also do well to continue analyzing the trends in state legitimacy and top-down nation-building outlined in the initial chapters.
