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 M orocco
Type of Government: Monarchy with elected parliament of little power
Paramount leader: King Mohammed VI
Capital City: Rabat (largest city: Casablanca)
Ideology: Nationalist, formerly right-wing but presently led by opposition
and socialist politicians
Region: Africa (same as Togo and Rwanda); holds the “Middle East” seat
Neighbours: Algeria, Western Sahara, Spain
Demographics
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Population: 33 million (38th largest in the world).
Religion: 98.7% Muslim (Sunni), 1.1% Christian, and
0.2% Jewish (approximately 6,000).
Age: Median age of 28 years, life expectancy at birth in 2011 was
76 years with a very low mortality rate.
Ethnicities: Arab-Berber 99%, other 1%. A minority identify as Haratin
and Gnaoua.
National Language: Classical Arabic and Tamazight are the official languages. French, while
unofficial, is frequently used for business, economics and government.
Economy
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Relatively large GDP for its size, $174 billion with a growth rate of 3% (60th in the world).
World Bank Classification:
Poverty Rate: 15% below line, with unemployment at 8.8% mainly concentrated in the rural areas
(101st in the world)
Economy is largely connected to Europe, and thus experiences the same troughs and peaks
Inflation rate: increased from 0.9% (2011) to 1.4% (2012 estimate)
Key areas for improvement have been fighting corruption and improving education levels
Major Industries
• Energy
• Textiles
• Food processing
• Phosphate rock mining and processing
• Minor: construction, leather goods and tourism.
Exports
• Major Trading Partners: France 19.7%, Spain 18.2%, India 6.2%, Brazil 5%, and USA 4.6%
• Mining ~20%, and textiles ~35% from cheap labour force.
• Energy industry is making the switch to solar from fossil fuels, expecting to export panels to
Europe with further development in technology.
• Narcotics (marijuana) accounts for 80% available in Europe.
Imports
• Total value $42.49 billion (twice as much as
exports).
• Textiles materials and crude petroleum main
imports.
• Major Partners: France 13.6%, Spain 11.2%, US
8.6%, Saudi Arabia 6.8%, China 6.5%, Italy 5.1%,
Russia 4.7%, and Germany 4.4%.
Natural Resources
• Agriculture limited by environment.
• Produces a large amount of crude petroleum but
does not export, same with natural gas reserves.
• 65% energy from fossil fuels, 25% renewable
sources (mainly hydroelectric).
Military
198,000 active personnel; with a $3.1bn military budget, Morocco has made a concerted effort to build up
its armed forces owing to tensions with Algeria and its ongoing occupation of Western Sahara.
Politics
Domestic politics
• Morocco was shaken by the Arab Spring, but the resolution was peaceful: the formerly powerful king
seceded considerable power to the Parliament, and allowed the formation of an opposition
government. He still retains most of the power in Morocco, but the prospect of a peaceful transition
to constitutional monarchy is not wholly unrealistic.
• Domestic politics are mostly concerned with improving infrastructure and quality of life.
Foreign Policy Concerns:
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Morocco claims the territory called Western Sahara; it is one of the worldʼs last truly disputed
spaces. Separatist Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic has unilaterally declared independence in
much of Western Sahara but under a 1991 UN-brokered ceasefire there will one day be a
referendum Western Saharaʼs independence. This is a very touchy subject.
The African Union, and all UN member states, refuses to recognise Moroccoʼs annexation of the
Western Sahara. Because of this Morocco unilaterally quit the African Union and is the only African
non-member. The UN Security Council has repeatedly called on both parties to negotiate a solution.
Morocco generally pursues its own foreign policy; it is a US ally and a member of the Arab League.
It takes a moderate approach on Middle East peace issues and serves as a model in relaxing
repression in response to the Arab Spring. It supported the Libyan intervention and Syrian
intervention as well.
More Information
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco
CIA: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mo.html
BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14121438
Latest news from the New York Times (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/morocco/index.html), the
Economist (http://www.economist.com/topics/morocco),
the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/morocco), and
Al-Jazeera (http://www.aljazeera.com/category/country/morocco),