‘The legitimate’ after the uprisings: justice, equity, and language politics in Morocco

Journal article

Debates on languages have been omnipresent in the Moroccan public space since independence. This article examines the regimes of justification employed by language advocates to approach historically the norms of legitimacy, i.e., ‘the legitimate’. It argues that a new discourse on languages has emerged in 2011 in Morocco employing justice and equity as the main legitimating principles in language politics. After the phases of unity (justifying the Arabization policy, which replaced French by Standard Arabic in administrations, courts, and schools) and recognition (supporting the standardization of Tamazight and its recognition as an official language), the discursive shift to justice and equity in 2011 marks the entry of Morocco in a third phase in language politics and points out a shift in the norms underpinning political legitimacy. The article highlights that the 2011 uprisings in Morocco, though seemingly unsuccessful, did nonetheless provoke an evolution of ‘the legitimate’ in Moroccan politics.

Authors: Ghilani, K

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Journal: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 830-854
• Publication date: 2020-12-28
• Acceptance date: 2020-12-10
• DOI: 10.1080/13530194.2020.1863772
• EISSN: 1469-3542
• ISSN: 1353-0194
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR