ABSTRACT
Morocco’s position at the intersection of sub-Saharan Africa and Europe can lead to a variety of geopolitical discourses: Morocco as orientated towards Europe, Morocco as a Muslim State, Morocco as a State of Amazigh origin, Morocco as part of Africa. The ways Morocco is seen change from person to person and from time to time. The vision of Morocco given by Lahcen Daoudi, a minister in the Islamist Party for Justice and Development, is based on a rejection of ‘Western’ influences on Moroccan political culture (Daoudi 2010). Yet, a few months earlier, at the first EU-Morocco summit, King Mohammed VI concluded that ‘Morocco is advancing in the direction of Europe’ (Mohammed VI 2010). Similar geopolitical contrasts can easily be found among those who celebrate Morocco’s Amazigh or Jewish heritage. Morocco’s geopolitical cultures influence interpretations of how Morocco is connected to the wider Maghreb and structure interpretations of Morocco’s political history (Willis 2012). Geopolitical culture, the way the State ‘thinks itself’, thus influences certain policy orientations, such as migration, and as Sayad suggests we can turn to immigration policy to understand changing orientations of geopolitical culture.
