The opposite of ijtihad is taqleed, imitation, and the person who applies ijtihad, the mujtahid must be a scholar of Islamic law. The High Islamic Council is composed of fifteen members, including a president appointed by the President of the Republic, from national personalities highly qualified in various fields of science, thus making apparent the intertwining between clerical and secular institutions and functions.
Algeria wraps up Islamic tradition in democratic cloth, creating on African ground a form of government that bears the imprint of the Arabian culture – finely tuned to the Muslim way of life, as well as the European touch of French colonization. Its nutshell sounds similar to Western political discourses, while its core maintains the balance with the Qu’ran and the Hadith, adapting the Muslim view of the world to the demands of modern life. It is this Constitution that has made Algeria cooperate better with Western countries, while allowing it to express its allegiance to the “just” cause of the “sister nation Syria”, as mentioned in the official releases of Algeria at the UN from May 10, 2003.
As Graham E. Fuller successfully points out in his argument in favor of a better understanding of Islamic politics, “in the end, modern governance is more likely to take root through organically evolving liberal Islamist trends at the grassroots level than from imported Western modules of “instant democracy”.”(50)
I. General Trends in Algerian Foreign Policy
The CIA World Factbook mentions that People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria maintains diplomatic relations with over 100 countries of the world. Information is scarce though when trying to determine the precise evolution of foreign relations between those hundred states and this presidential democracy. It is clear that Algeria's revolutionary tradition and its commitment to self-determination and nationalism – all of them having been developed and manifested at their fullest in the period of time French colonization, as well as the subsequent period of time, have historically influenced its foreign policy.
Due to its tormented history, marked by invasions by the Ottoman Empire and intensive exploitation by France during its imperialist period, supporting the revolution against imperialism is not only one of the main priorities of this state, as one can discover in the articles of the Constitution, but Algeria has been a prominent leader of this fight in both the region and the developing world.
Once independence was acquired, ideological ambitions flourished, but in the years to follow, foreign policy discourses were subordinated to more pressing economic and strategic interests. Economic factors have played a significant role in determining the course of foreign policy towards East and West altogether. Nevertheless, one cannot deny the strength of the affirmations contained by the 1996 fundamental law, stressing out the importance of the revolution, nor can it overlook the fact that the Algerian national day was generated by the same event.
By the late 1980s, Algeria's own economic and political problems and the global situation, which had radically changed in the meantime, as well as its position in international economy, restricted the extent to which Algeria could make its own decisions, as far as foreign policy was concerned. The new regime altered Algerian commitments, as far as ideology was concerned, moving the country away from socialist orientations closer to Western countries.
As mentioned in John Entelis’ “Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria”, the 1976 National Charter “redefined Algeria's foreign policy objectives, revoking the commitment to socialist revolution and shifting toward nonalignment in the world arena. The domestic situation--the growing popular unrest and decreasing government revenues and standard of living--limited the freedom of the government to commit itself externally.” (413)
Focusing on issues of direct relevance to the domestic economy became the greatest priority. At the same time, the rise in popular disgruntlement and the increasing influence of opposition parties increased the political constraints on foreign policy. One can notice that by looking at the Algerian reaction to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Then, government’s position was reversed in a surprising and dramatic manner.
II. A Tormented Relation - Maghrib
Maghrib means in Arabic the “island of the west” and is composed by the western Islamic world in the Northwest of Africa. Maghrib traditionally includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania (as of recently), and part of Libya. The region is a very important target for Algerian foreign policy from a political, economic, and strategic point of view.
Before the Algerian independence, the other Maghrib nations, former colonies themselves, helped the revolutionaries to free themselves from the French by providing them with supplies, technical training and political assistance. After acquiring the independence, the relations between Maghrib and Algeria became tensed, especially between Algeria and Morocco, because of differences in ideological views and orientations, tensions which clad up because of boundary issues between the two. Because the countries of the “island from the west” were sharing economic, cultural, linguistic, and religious characteristics, as well as national borders, the Maghrib nations had diplomatic interests that were interconnected, often acting like a pair of Siamese.
Although most of the population of Maghrib and of Algeria was Muslim, collaboration was far from smooth and decision-making far from being homogenous, greatly influenced by economic interests, and that country’s level of “modernity”. In the 1980s, however, the process of liberalization – political and economic, that Algeria undertook, drew the countries closer together, and relations improved dramatically. Algeria's foreign policy moved towards regional concerns, away from unsustainable ideological commitment, trying to create, as they put it, a “Greater Maghrib”.
These efforts, which proved once more the inherent cohesion between Islamic states (former colonies), have dominated Algerian foreign policy. It unified Muslim countries under an Islamic unifying objective, one that made foreign relations with “sister countries” very productive and at times, very tensed. Achieving more concrete steps toward political and economic cooperation proved to be much more difficult because of political and economic rivalries and because of the strategic interests they had in the region. The Maghrib Permanent Consultative Committee was established in 1964, but it was marked by the very pregnant differences, and it could not reach an agreement on economic union. In the late 1980s, an accord finally established an economic and political Union of the Arab Maghrib (U.M.A.), (424).
The basis for this Union was the Treaty of Fraternity and Concord, another act that denotes Algeria’s treatment of other Muslim states as far as foreign policy is concerned. Signed in 1983 as a bilateral agreement between Tunisia and Algeria, the treaty had each nation pledge to respect the other's territorial sovereignty, not allowing for the support of insurrections in the other country. Diplomatic controversies were to be solved by avoiding force. The treaty was made having in mind, from one side, the Tunisian diplomatic concerns about possible Libyan ambitions, and from the other side, the Algerian desire to improve its predominant position in the region, by building a solid political confederation.
The greatest significance of the U.M.A. is maybe its symbolism, as John Entelis and P.C. Naylor state in State and Society in Algeria. The North African economic union presents a potential counterpart to the European Community, “whose cooperation threatens to undermine the position of Maghrib exports and migrant workers”.
Political cooperation has presented a means of keeping control over the rise of Islamist radicals, who in the early 1990s were challenging the political regimes in most if not all of the North African nations. Last but not least, one of the biggest advantages of Algeria’s ratification of the UMA is the fact that it provides a regional forum for resolving bilateral conflicts, the most notable of which has been the Algerian-Moroccan dispute over the Western Sahara.
Algeria also intervened in favor of the self determination of the South Saharan territory, after Spain announced its intention to abandon it in 1975, and recognized the new self-proclaimed state in 1976. This presidential republic has since pursued a determined diplomatic effort for international recognition of the territory. It has even helped them with food, ammunition and training, all that to the guerilla forces fighting in the region.
Although it has had a founding role in the OAU, Algeria remains a society closer affiliated with its Arab neighbors than with the African countries from the south. Algeria has, however, resolved its remaining border conflicts with Mali, Niger, and Mauritania.
In its’ post-revolutionary period, Algeria marked a cornerstone in its foreign policy, as far as non-Muslim countries are concerned, as it “committed to helping countries against colonialism, in Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique, and Namibia” (437). Lately, its role has become that of a mentor much more than revolutionary. Following its economic interests, Algerian foreign policy, guided by ideological affiliation has fallen even more in accordance with the Maghrib, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.
III. Arab and Middle East Affairs
Algeria's national commitment to pan-Arabism and Arab causes throughout the Middle East and North Africa has resulted in an active role in the region. It joined the League of Arab States, it has had a strong affinity for the Palestinians in Israel. Algeria has consistently supported the Palestinians. The Algerian government has steadily backed the mainstream faction of the Palestinian movement, under the leadership of Yasir Arafat. Algeria supported Arafat's decision, denounced by Palestinian hard-liners, to sign a peace treaty with Israel in September 1993.
Algeria's energetic efforts on behalf of the Palestinian cause have from time to time jeopardized its relations with other Arab nations (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt), many of which host significant Palestinian populations of their own, which lead at some point to a severing of diplomatic contacts with Egypt. Similarly, Algeria incurred difficulties with Iraq over its involvement in the peace talks concluding the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq.
This proves that although Algeria shares a cultural identity with the Arab-Islamic nations, distance separates it from the rest of the Middle East. The nature of the authoritarian regime that governed Algeria for most of its independent history has closed Algerian eyes and ears to many of the external conflicts, thus mass enthusiasm being almost inexistent.
The first time a significant portion of the Algerian public became mobilized over a foreign policy issue was the period of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, followed by the subsequent retaliation by the (mostly) Western coalition forces. Arab identification with Iraq gained the support of the masses in unprecedented numbers.
IV. The West
Early Algerian foreign policy caused direct conflict with the Western powers, namely France, as it struggled against colonialism. Since the late 1970s, however, Algeria has determinedly pursued a policy of non alignment that has facilitated relations with the West. Economic and political liberalization have reduced the barriers in diplomatic relations with Europe and the United States, thus marking a shift from an Islam-oriented policy to a policy whose priorities were set first and foremost by taking into consideration economic factors.
Also, the Western (French) residues in the legal and political framework facilitated its access to a such status, although at some point Algeria was in dear need of skilled workers, once most of the European population had emigrated. Algeria moved toward a free-market economy and liberal democratic polity, its diplomatic objectives shifting toward the West.
Another one of the paradoxes that give Algeria its peculiarity as far as this case study is concerned, is the fact that the military coup that upset the Algerian democratic experiment was tolerated, even approved of, by the West.
IV.I. The United States
Algeria has had competing foreign policy objectives from the U.S., that have only come closer gradually. Algeria's commitment to strict socialism and to a global revolution against Western capitalism and imperialism antagonized relations with the United States, seen, in Algerian eyes, to embody all that the revolution had hated most.
Algeria broke diplomatic relations with the United States in 1967, following the June 1967 war of Israel. Relations with the U.S. remained hostile throughout the next decade. The United States intervention in Vietnam and other developing countries, Algerian sponsorship of guerrilla and radical revolutionary groups, United States sympathies for Morocco, and United States support for Israel aggravated an ideological and political antagonism between the two countries.
As J.P. Entelis mentions, “official relations resumed in the mid-1970s, although it was not until the late 1970s that relations normalized. By then Algerian leniency and passive tolerance for terrorist hijackers drew enough international criticism that the government modified its policy of allowing aid and landing clearance at Algerian airports for hijackers.”( "Islam, Democracy, and the State: The Reemergence of Authoritarian Politics in Algeria." 21)
In the 1980s, a growing Algerian need for capital and technical assistance, as well as an increased United States demand for energy diminished tensions and resulted in increased interaction with the United States after the relative isolation from the West during the Boumediene years.
“Liberalization measures undertaken by Benjedid greatly facilitated the improved relations. In fact, an economic rapport with the West had been growing throughout the previous decade despite tense political relations. Algeria was becoming an important source of petroleum and natural gas for the United States. In 1980 the United States imported more than US$2.8 billion worth of oil from Algeria and was Algeria's largest export market.”(21)
Algeria's role as intermediary in the release of the United States hostages from Iran in 1981 and its retreat from its activist role as its domestic situation worsened, opened the path to more peaceful relations with the United States. In search of alternative sources of aid (to the Soviet Union, which was falling apart), in 1990 Algeria received US$25.8 million in financial assistance and bought US$1.0 billion in imports from the United States, indicating that the United States had become an important international partner.
After the military coup, the government has reaffirmed its commitment to liberalizing its domestic economy and opening the country to foreign trade, undoubtedly accounting for some of the Western support for the new Algerian regime.
IV.II France and the Mediterranean Countries
Despite ambiguous sentiment in Algeria concerning its former colonial power, France has maintained a historically favored position in Algerian foreign relations. That is because soon after arriving in Algeria, the French colonial regime set about to undermine traditional Muslim Algerian culture. According to Islam, however, a Muslim society permanently subject to non-Muslim rulers is unacceptable. Muslims believe that non-Muslim rule must be ended as quickly as possible and Muslim rulers restored to power. For this reason, Islam was a strong element of the resistance movement to the French.
Algeria experienced a high level of dependency on France in the first years after the revolution and, at the same time, a conflicting desire to be free of that dependency. Algerian interest in resuming French-Algerian relations resurfaced even after the regime change, proving that it was still a priority. Although a non-Islamic country, France had something else – it supplied much-needed financial assistance, a steady supply of essential imports, and technical personnel.
Talks between President Boumediene and the French government confirmed both countries' interest in restoring diplomatic relations. France wanted to preserve its privileged position in the strategically and economically important Algerian nation, and Algeria hoped to receive needed technical and financial assistance.
French support for economic and political liberalization in Algeria expedited improved French-Algerian relations. Finally, the reconciliation with Morocco, a number of joint economic ventures between France and Algeria, and the establishment of the UMA relaxed some of the remaining tensions.
French popular sentiment has generally been unfavorable toward its Arab population. Equally problematic has been Algeria's handling of the emigrant issue. The government has provided substantial educational, economic, and cultural assistance to the emigrant community but has been less consistent in defending emigrant workers' rights in France.
The Algerian government has frequently subordinated its own workers' interests to strategic diplomatic concerns in maintaining favorable economic relations with France. The rise of Islamism in Algeria and the subsequent crackdown on the Islamists by the government have had serious implications for both countries: record numbers of Algerian Islamists have fled to France, where their cultural dissimilarity as Arab Islamists is alien to the country.
In the early 1990s there were numerous francophones in Algeria, which created a tremendous cultural overlap. Algeria and France share a cultural background that transcends diplomatic relations, which has persisted throughout periods of disappointment and strained relations. Over time, however, the arabization of Algeria and the increasing division in society between the francophone elite and the Arab masses have mobilized anti-French sentiment.
Support for the arabization of Algerian society, which includes the elimination of French as the second national language and emphasis on an arabized curriculum indicate a growing fervor in Algeria for asserting an independent national identity. Such an identity emphasizes its Arab and Islamic cultural tradition rather than its French colonial past. However, France's support for the military regime that assumed power in early 1992 indicates that the relations between the two countries remain strong.
Trade links between the EU and Algeria are good. The Union takes 62.7% of Algeria’s exports and supplies 58% of its imports. The trade balance is in Algeria’s favour (EUR 11,250 million in 2000). Because of obvious geographic reasons, and even though all of them are non-Islamic (taking into consideration the fact that Islam plays no active role in the governing system of Turkey) Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey share a privileged position in Algerian foreign relations. The economic and strategic significance of Algeria as a geographically adjacent and continentally prominent nation are relevant to the foreign policies of the Mediterranean nations.
Algeria's relations with France have been complicated by confusing emotional and cultural complexities. Meanwhile, its relations with the other Mediterranean countries have been primarily driven by economic factors. Both Spain and Italy have become substantial importers of Algerian gas. Due to all the varied business relations that were established, beginning with the latter 1980s, Algeria has devoted increasing attention toward regional concerns, making the geographical proximity of the Mediterranean nations of growing importance to Algeria's diplomatic and economic relations.
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http://travel.state.gov/algeria.html
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ag.html
http://www.memri.org/
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