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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 • • • • • 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 • • • • • • 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: • • • 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),