ABSTRACT
The overwhelming majority of Moroccans are indifferent to but not ignorant of politics. Indeed, for most, "politics" is either irrelevant or insignificant. For those at the top as well as those at the bottom, personal relations, family ties, tribal affiliations, and clientelist networks are what count. Morocco is a "political" society in the sense that "who gets what, when, and how" is the preoccupation of so many men in their daily discussions, whether at home or at work, in coffeehouses or social clubs, in the city or in the countryside. Power is not exercised through the formal channels of politics and authority, although in recent years established political structures and governmental institutions, particularly the multiparty system, have been revitalized and given a new sense of purpose and direction; power is exercised through a highly developed system of clientelism. In a more positive light, many of the inhabitants of Casablanca's slums are not revolutionaries or criminals or social rebels.
