The descendant of the Prophet, Muhammad VI of Morocco, relied on religion, along with co-optation, repression and political liberalisation, all imbued with his version of Islam, since he tried to build on the 38-year stable rule of his father, King Hassan II, while introducing reforms that he considered vital and necessary for his own survival and legitimacy in the twenty-first century, most especially in 2011 when the winds of change blew in the Middle East. His actions in 2011, and the reactions of the ruled, can be explained by the Pendulum Model that I devised in my 2007 book Middle Eastern Leaders and Islam: A Precarious Equilibrium and applied to other states: Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan (Alianak 2007). In 2011, the hierarchies of the monarch (stability) and the ruled (economic opportunities through democracy) did not reach the dissonance level, unlike in Egypt and Tunisia, since the King responded to the ruled and instituted reforms which were perceived to be sincere given his powerful religious credentials. A similar pattern can be discerned in Jordan, where the monarch, Abdullah II, also traces his descent from the Prophet. Both monarchs weathered the crises afflicting rulers and ruled in the Middle East in 2011.

This study analyses how the Moroccan monarch tried to push the pendulum back as far as he could towards equilibrium in order to re-establish stability, mainly through religion, but also through co-optation and/or repression, and/ or democratic experiments, which themselves were imbued with religion.

Co-optation as a method of regime stabilization

Muhammad VI, following his father Hassan II, is a master of co-optation. While this has served the monarchy very well in the past, it is being challenged right now, since the co-optation of the privileged few, the elite, has led to serious charges of corruption, to the detriment of the population at large, all of which intensified during the 2011 crisis in the Middle East as a whole.

Traditionally, the Moroccan monarchs relied on the Makhzen, or palace elite, composed of wealthy landowners, businessmen, tribal leaders, civil servants and top-ranking military personnel (Lopez 2011).