ABSTRACT
Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia (as well as Libya and Mauritania, the two
other members of the Arab Maghreb Union) stand at a crucial crossroads
in their political evolution as they face simultaneous challenges from
domestic, regional, and global forces. Despite all surface appearances to the
contrary, all three central Maghrebi states are governed autocratically. As
such, they will be unable to meet the upcoming threats to their political
stability, social cohesion, cultural integrity, and economic viability. One
result will be increased domestic, regional, and global tensions as militant forces seep through these sociopolitical fault lines, finding support from and
identification with similarly discontented co-religionists living in Europe.
Terrorism is the most extreme manifestation of this diffused discontent
made ‘‘legitimate’’ through an Islamic idiom of martyrdom.
