Participation without representation: Moroccans abroad at a time of unstable authoritarian rule

Abstract

How do authoritarian regimes adapt to the challenges that population movement poses? This article identifies a kind of control mechanism that, despite not being authoritarian in essence, may represent an asset for authoritarian regimes in search of new control tools in a global age. The analysis of an authoritarian regime’s use of new sophisticated techniques of ‘participation’ demonstrates how the creation of a participatory institution can work as a mechanism that offers participation while denying representation. By outlining the political dynamics that took place between the Moroccan authoritarian regime and its population abroad during the 2011 constitutional reform process, this article shows how the creation of a participatory institution, the Council for the Moroccan Community Abroad, provided the regime with a powerful and effective tool of control over Moroccans abroad. More specifically, it demonstrates how, paradoxically, the creation of an emigration-related consultative institution has hindered the possibility of Moroccans abroad to achieve meaningful political participation. The Moroccan case study demonstrates that an authoritarian regime in a global age can successfully convert a loud horizontal voice from abroad into a not very loud vertical one through a ‘participation’ process.