ABSTRACT
Algeria is a socialist one-party state without a clear socialist doctrine or a ruling party worthy of the name. It is a republic in which Islam is the state religion but it is far from being an Islamic Republic in the sense in which this Is understood in Iran. with whose revolutionary government Algeria nevertheless enjoys excellent relations. It is ruled in the name of the people by a self-conscious and self-confident elite whose particular interests and internal divisions are masked by a populist and nationalist rhetoric which expresses respect for. and mistrust of. those it governs in about equal proportions. a complex of sentiments which are generally reciprocated by the lal1er. In the last 20 years it has undergone exceptionally rapid economic and social change. the benefits of which have been unusually widely distributed. by comparison with other 011rich states of the Third World. It is a country characterized. inter alia. by a high level of social tension. but which has nevertheless displayed a rare degree of continuity in its political orientations and arrangements since its accession to Independence in 1962. The nature of these orientations and arrangements and the manner in which they have evolved over the last two decades are matters of controversy. as keenly debated by academic observers as they are by the Algerians themselves.
