The structure of the industrial bourgeoisie and pattern of business–government relations that emerged in Morocco's postindependence era influenced how later industrialists would respond to economic opportunities and constraints in the reform period. Many analytical treatments of the private sector, particularly in literature on North African politics, present “business” as a homogeneous class. This study, in contrast, emphasizes the variegated nature of the business class and, more specifically, divisions within the industrial bourgeoisie. In the postindependence era, the rise of a well-connected protectionist elite, organized in multisectoral groups or holding companies, emerged out of two factors: first, their importance in the anticolonial struggle, which enabled them to penetrate the independent state and shape economic policy; and second, the perceived capacity of the domestic market to sustain ISI, at least in the short to medium term. The existence of this privileged elite shaped the institutional and political context within which different business factions maneuvered, spurring reactive mobilization by emergent exporters in the 1990s, almost five decades after independence.

BUSINESS–GOVERNMENT RELATIONS IN POSTINDEPENDENCE MOROCCO

The postindependence structure of the Moroccan industrial bourgeoisie and forms of business–government relations emerged as a result of several factors, including French administration policies during the colonial period, the relationship of economic elites to the colonial administration, and, most importantly, interactions between the monarchy and existing business classes after independence.

The Political System: The Palace, Parties, and Parliament

When the French occupied Morocco and subsequently established the Protectorate in 1912, they implemented a two-track pattern of administration.