Mediterranean Politics
Sylvia I. Bergh – This contribution uses the National Initiative for Human Developmentin Morocco as a case study to show theeffects of ‘inclusive’ neoliberal localgovernance reforms on local state–society relations and the redeployment of state power. This initiative, launched by the kingin 2005, is designed to improve socio-economic conditions in targeted poorareas through new participatory localgovernance mechanisms. The article argues, first, that these mechanisms infact serve to strengthen the power of theappointed representatives of the Ministryof the Interior, especially at the provincelevel, at the expense of local governments. Second, the findings show that byinstrumentalizing local associations toaccess INDH funds, local councillors basetheir legitimacy increasingly on theirrenewed alliance with the king through the INDH and the clientelist relations it allowsthem to maintain, rather than on theirstatus as political representatives. Thiscontributes to the fragmentation andweakening of local (political)accountability.
