The Moroccan Civil Society: An Attempt to Overcome the Crisis through the Openness to Principles of Good Governance

Abstract

This article aims at first glance to study the extent to which associative and institutional discourse has contributed in advancing the civil society in Morocco as an important institution fully independent of the state and based on a number of social and civil structures. To this end, the concept is defined and discussed in the first part of this article along with the elements and components upon which this latter is based, being voluntary, free choice, and respecting the legal regulatory and the constitutional legitimacy. The second part of this article reviews the onset of the Moroccan civil society prior to the state and the developments it has witnessed ever since in organizing and framing society, catering for its needs and later on co-existing with the State after this latter failed to eliminate it. Last but not least, the third part of this article treats ‘governance’ as a concept devoted in a context of democracy. It also opens to considering modernization and opening up to governance as the main reasons the civil society was successful in its attempt to overcome crises in times fragility and incapacity dominated all levels. The results of this article show that Morocco is considered one of the leading countries in the South through the implementation of ‘governance’ and ‘modernization’ and its opening to the community’s activities by virtue of the political transformation which the experience of power has known in the country in the early nineties.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s1p325