ABSTRACT
In Chapter 3, I aimed to illustrate the features of an ‘old’ system in which civil society and the public sphere were dependent. Against this background, this chapter examines the emergence of a ‘new’ civil society, when important changes happened in the mid-1980s. Individuals and groups of individuals recognized the fact that their association to political parties had prevented the articulation and promotion of their issues. Consequently, they formed alternative associations in order to mobilize for single issues and became critical in the public sphere. This changed the content and the boundaries of the articulated public sphere as well. This was most recognizable in the newspaper scene and provided for the increasing political freedom of the mid-1990s. In the early phase, the Moroccan state did not consider these new actors as being too threatening and left them the space necessary to commit themselves in agenda and boundary setting. In the case of human rights, the state even created the forum, where these new organizations could challenge the state’s policies, and where the representatives of state ministries were direct interlocutors.
