Weathering the storm: why was there no Arab uprising in Algeria?. Issue 6 (19th September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Del Panta, Gianni
• Is Part Of: Democratization. Volume 24:Issue 6(2017)
• Page Start: 1085
• Page End: 1102
• Publication Date: 2017-09-19
• Subjects: Algeria -- Arab spring -- Arab uprising -- aristocracy of labour -- authoritarian persistence -- de-industrialization -- negative coalition -- working class; Democracy -- Periodicals; Economic history -- 1990- -- Periodicals; Democratization -- Periodicals; 321.8
• DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2016.1275575
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1351-0347

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article re-opens the discussion of why there was "no Arab Uprising in Algeria." After critically reviewing previous findings, the paper suggests that the stability of the Algerian regime was mainly a result of the non-formation of a cross-class and cross-ideological coalition. Splitting this hypothesis into its two main parts, it will be shown, first, that the working class was the missing element. Two factors explain this: (a) the numerical and strategic marginalization of productive workers – in turn, an effect of the process of de-industrialization that hit the country from the late 1980s onwards; and (b) the presence of an aristocracy of labour in the hydrocarbon sector, from which a tiny minority of workers produced an overwhelming amount of wealth. Secondly, the enduring distrust among opposition groups – a direct legacy of the still-too-recent civil war, as well as an effect of the specific institutional environment that developed from the mid 1990s onwards – prevented the establishment of a "negative coalition" through which all opposition forces could jointly mobilize against the regime.