ABSTRACT
The Maghreb countries Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia
have experienced important events and transformations since the 1980s. The
five countries founded in 1989 the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), which
aimed at regional integration. This union was triggered by domestic and
international events. The most noteworthy domestic events have had
important consequences for subsequent developments within each of these
countries: popular uprising in Algeria in October 1988; liberalization pro-
cess in Algeria and Morocco; rise of radical Islamism in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and more recently in Morocco; and, socioeconomic difficulties in
Morocco and Mauritania. External events, too, played a critical role in
compelling the countries in the region to seek some sort of union to resolve
and confront collectively their domestic problems: the lack of resolution of
the Western Sahara conflict; the collapse of the Soviet bloc; the wave of
democratization in Central and Eastern Europe; the rise of the United
States to sole superpower status; Libya’s confrontation with the United
States and the United Nations and US-imposed sanctions on Libya; and the European Union’s focus on the emerging markets in Eastern Europe rather
than on the southern Mediterranean countries also played a critical role in
influencing the Maghreb countries to seek unity in order to face the new
challenges. However, due to their numerous differences (e.g., Algeria and
Morocco’s disagreement over the conflict in Western Sahara, among other
issues) this resulted in paralysis of the AMU.
