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Algeria
CIVIL SOCIETY
Politicized Algerian civil society owes its origins to the prerevolutionary
period when it absorbed much of the French notions of associational
life and state-society relations. From the 1920s until the War
of Independence, Algerians were allowed to participate in French
professional and trade unions and other mass organizations. Through
most of Algeria's independent history, civil society and mass
organizations have been subordinate to the state-party apparatus
and relegated to roles of recruitment and propaganda. From 1968
until 1989, all mass associations were incorporated under the
direct administration of the FLN. From the party's perspective,
integrating the independent organizations enabled the party to
become a true "front," a unique body representing the populace,
while simultaneously inhibiting the development of any independent
political opposition. Subordinate to the party administration,
the associations quickly became engrossed in mobilizing mass support
for the party and government and less occupied with pursuing the
interests of the groups they represented.
The political crisis of the late 1980s radically altered the
dynamic in which the people accepted central control in return
for economic security by shifting some of the initiative away
from the state and toward civil society. "Associations of a political
character" were legalized and allowed to organize, recruit, and
demonstrate. In 1989 the legalization of political parties resulted
in a large number of independent interest groups emerging as political
parties, attesting to the pervasive nature of associational life
in Algerian political culture despite government efforts at "depoliticization"
and heavy government supervision. Party proliferation was facilitated
by a loosening of government regulations. Government authorization
became necessary only for those organizations having a "national
character," and legalization was extended to any party that did
not pose a direct threat to national sovereignty. Hundreds of
independent institutions emerged in the following years.
Data as of December 1993
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