The Maghrib in the New Century Identity, Religion, and Politics by Bruce Maddy-Weitzman and Daniel Zisenwine, eds. (Gainesville: University Press of Forida, 2007. 278 pages.)

Abstract

The Maghrib in the New Century: Identity, Religion, and Politics offers a
timely addition to the literature on North Africa. Edited by Bruce Maddy-
Weitzman and Daniel Zisenwine, this collection explores the socioeconomic
and political challenges facing North Africa in the twenty-first century. The
editors have divided the book into four sections broadly concerned with history
and identity; the status of the ruling regimes in the face of processes
such as globalization and Islamism; economic development; and the North
African presence in France.
Benjamin Stora’s introduction to the collection neatly sums up many of
the issues this region faces, including the aftereffects of colonialism, the fallout
from the Algerian civil war, identity movements and the questioned
legitimacy of ruling regimes, emigration, terrorism, and battles overwomen’s
status. In the first section, Mickael Bensadoun analyzes Moroccan national
identity under the nascent rule ofMohammedVI. This is followed by Robert
Mortimer’s examination of Algerian identity through literature. Maddy-
Weitzman’s essay provides an insightful discussion of how Berber/Amazigh
activists have sought to construct Amazigh identity in both Algeria and
Morocco by reinterpreting history.
The collection segues into a longer section focusing on the political
challenges facing the region’s dictatorial regimes, particularly inAlgeria and
Morocco. In the fallout from the Algerian civil war, analyses of the current
situation in Algeria by Gideon Gera, Louisa Aït-Hamadouche, and Yahia
Zoubir are particularly welcome. Zisenwine analyzes the first eight years of
Mohammed VI’s rule, while Michael Willis gives a thorough overview of
that country’s Islamist movements. Finally, in one of the few pieces to concentrate
on Tunisia,Michele PennerAngrist offers a number of astute explanations
for the strength of the Ben Ali regime ...