Morocco vs Usa politics

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Morocco and USA Political Systems

Supervised by: Dr. KALPAKIAN Jack

PSC 2301 - Spring 2018

Done by: Dounia Kadiri

Table of Contents

I.        Introduction        3

II.        The political system of Morocco        4

A.        Historical background        4

B.        The legislative power        5

C.        The judicial power        6

D.        The executive power        6

III.        The political system of USA        8

A.        Historical background        8

B.        Legislative power        10

C.        Judiciary power        11

D.        Executive power:        11

IV.        Conclusion        13

1. Introduction

Nobody can deny that worldwide political systems are essential for the living of populations. Each country in the world has a specific political system that might be different from other countries. In fact, the difference between them could be based on many aspects related to the historical background, structure, and culture.

As it is known, Morocco and the United States have a strong relationship based on mutual cooperation in many fields, and economic exchange. In addition, both states have democratic political systems that differ in some aspects.

The reason behind choosing these two countries is to understand the nature of political systems of both countries and the difference between them, as well as to deepen knowledge about them.

This paper discusses the main differences between the Moroccan political systems compared to the one of the United States. Each one of both countries differs in terms of legislative, judiciary and executive powers. Moreover, the points of differences could be at the level of regional and local institutions that represent the three types of powers.

The political parties that exist in each country are affecting directly and indirectly the political systems because their members can occupy positions within the legislative or the executive powers. Also, the level of democracy, which can be different from a country to another, can explain the rate of effectiveness of the political systems within states. Religion can also be a point of difference between the political systems especially when we talk about different religions.

1. The political system of Morocco

1. Historical background

The Kingdom of Morocco or mostly known as Morocco is located in North Africa. It’s geographical setting makes it a country with a strategically position in regards to international and foreign countries.  

Although the history of Morocco is very rich, focusing on the political aspect of this country is more of our concern. In 1930, Berbers made the Berber decree “Berber’s Dahir”. After the French left, it’s the Makhzen “Royal Army” who took over French lands (the state) and the party of independence “Istiqlal” moved from a nationalist movement to a political party. In that time, the sultan “king of Morocco” had a symbolic status rather than a ruling status.

Allal Al Fassi, the founder of the party of independence “Party of Istiqlal”, the first political party in Morocco had different ideological leanings that were: conservative, salafist, reformist, and religious. He was a person who believed that Morocco need to keep Islam in its future vision. Along with Ahmed Balafrej and Abderahmane El Youssfi they were members of the nationalist movement. All theses names, and in addition to most powerful head at that time: Hassan the II, were developers of the Moroccan political system and marked many achievements that lead to different changes.

Morocco’s first constitution was made in 1962 by a group of elected representatives body. It consolidated Hassan II power. There were many changes in the Moroccan constitution after its creation. In 2011, the current constitution was made with developed levels of modernity in many fields. Also, it changed the structure of Morocco to be more democratic.

1. The legislative power

The Kingdom of Morocco is a constitutional monarchy where the head of state is the King. The constitution of Morocco is supervised by the legislative power, which has the power to approve laws and policies.

According to (Madani, Maghraoui, Zerhouni, 2012) “The king remains at the center of political and constitutional life under the new constitution. He alone can revise the constitution, and the powers of the head of parliament”.

The parliament of Morocco represents the legislative power. It consists of two assemblies or chambers. The first one is the Assembly of Representatives who are elected by citizens and belong to the different Moroccan parties. The second one is the Assembly of Councilors who is elected from the different chambers of the local regions as the commercial and agricultural chambers. They are also from the different political parties in Morocco, but their election is different from the one of the representatives. The role of the parliament is to supervise the activity of governments by questioning ministers during the sessions of the two assemblies. Also, the parliament has the power to approve or disapprove what the government wants to do in terms of budgets, laws, and decisions.

According to (Madani, Maghraoui, Zerhouni, 2012): “The constitution imposes significant limitations on the legislative process. Civil society does not have sufficient access to parliament; committee meetings remain generally secret ”. 

From this, we can understand the level of democracy that exists in Morocco. The rights of citizens are limited to the legislative branch. However, citizens have the right to participate in the elections and to join political parties in the aim of developing the political system.

1. The judicial power

The judicial power of Morocco is independent from the two other powers. Morocco is known for three main courts: the lower court or the court of first instance deals with civil cases and first-degree criminal cases. This court is considered to be the first one where citizens can follow their law court.  The court of appeal is considered as the highest court where people can ask for an appeal. Generally, the law court goes by the court of appeal to be pursued in case there is an appeal. The court of appeal deals directly with criminal cases.

The supreme court of Morocco is considered as the court of jurisdiction. Their members are qualified judges chosen by the president of the court, they have a role of revision of previous decision made by the judges of the court of appeal. In addition, there are other courts that are specialized in specific matters, like the commercial courts.

Morocco is an Islamic country where many policies are related to and based on Islamic religion, for instance, the policy of heritage, which was taken from the Holy Quran.

1. The executive power

The government is composed of ministers who belong to the different political parties. As stated before, Morocco follows a parliamentary system. After the election of the parliament, the political parties that get elected in the first round meet together in order to create a majority that can create the government. In fact, the head of government is the leader of the political party that has won in the election, scoring the highest among other political parties. The other ministers are from the political parties that came in the following positions. The head of the Moroccan government is the president of the council of government. The meeting is fixed once a month to discuss different affairs and to make decisions. In addition, there is another assembly where the ministers meet with the head of government and the king who is the head of state. This assembly is called the council of ministers. During which, the king can supervise the activity of the government.

According to (Madani, Maghraoui, Zerhouni, 2012): “In Morocco there is a distinction between the Council of Ministers and Council of Government. When the government meets under the chairmanship of the head of the government, it is referred to as the Council of Government, but it is the king who chairs the Council of Ministers.”

The new Moroccan constitution made in 2011 changed the structure of the executive power.

The political party that dominates the government is a party of Islamists who used the religion to attract votes and win the elections. This is an example that illustrates the use of religion in politics.