ABSTRACT
The main objective of this chapter is to study the relationship between democracy in Algeria and the economic and social development achieved since independence in 1962, using the modernization theory of democratization and models of elite behaviour, focusing particularly on the role of rents and conflicts on the democratization process. Despite the relative political liberalization introduced after the watershed October 1988 riots and the relative political competitiveness introduced in 1989, Algeria is still regarded as non-democratic, according to major indices of democratic performance around the world.1 It is worth noting that the Polity IV index ranks democracy in Algeria more favourably than the Gastil and EIU indices. In fact the Polity IV index in 2004 raised Algeria to +2, the highest among Arab countries, up from –9 in 1989 when multi-party politics were introduced.2 The crucial question to be addressed is why the Algerian political regime proved to be so persistent and slow in democratization, despite the country’s substantial economic and social development.3
