ABSTRACT
Whilst the Western Sahara conflict is the core issue that dominates the hierarchy of Moroccan foreign policy priorities and is a determining factor for all external behaviour of this state, this interference has always been most apparent and compelling vis-à-vis relations with the Maghreb countries. In general, relations between the states which make up this subregional system have been marked since decolonisation by the paradoxical coexistence of, on the one hand, an ideal of common belonging and regional federation and, on the other hand, the reality of low economic and social interdependence, territorial disputes and clashes between stubborn nationalisms. The tension between the unifying norm and the divisive practice of power politics can be considered at this stage as a structural feature. The most advanced project of regional cooperation, the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), was blocked shortly after its launch in 1989 following setbacks in the implementation of the UN Settlement Plan for Western Sahara and the Algerian political crisis and civil war (Hernando de Larramendi, 2008: 179). In 1994, the closure of the land border between Morocco and Algeria, the two aspiring regional powers, conclusively froze political dialogue at head of state level within the Presidential Council of this organisation, reducing its activity to the discreet operation of its Rabat-based General Secretariat and technical cooperation in areas such as transport, energy and infrastructure (interview with Khalid Naciri, 17 February 2006). The commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the AMU, in February 2009, was met with widespread indifference (Jeune Afrique, 22–28 February 2009).
