Research Library

Morocco’s Party of Justice and Development offers the authors a rare opportunity to evaluate an Islamist party’s approach to the economy that can counter its own policies.

King Mohammed VI of Morocco has cultivated the country’s image as a bastion of moderate Islam and of himself as a strategic partner, but to what extent does his international reputation correspond to public opinion in Morocco? In this paper, the author evaluates the king’s domestic standing as part of a larger Baker Institute study on religious authority in the Middle East.

Who speaks for Islam and who holds religious authority in the Middle East? These questions strike at the heart of the relationship between religion and politics in the Muslim world, for whoever can legitimately claim religious authority has an opportunity to shape the extent to which religion is politicized in the region. Our study examines this issue by identifying the channels of influence between religious leaders who claim to hold Islamic authority and individual Muslims across the region. The findings depict a complex religious space in the Middle East that reflects its citizens’ nuanced approach toward religion and the religion-politics relationship.

This report highlights the results from an expert survey carried out as part of a two-year research project on pluralism and inclusion in the post-Arab Spring regional landscape, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The survey generated policy-relevant responses that provide nuanced insight into key public policy challenges in Gulf countries that — Bahrain apart —did not experience significant political upheaval after 2011 but nevertheless could see economic (un)sustainability develop into major determinants of political (in)stability in the years ahead.