In the shadows of colonial agricultural policies: Morocco's political failure in building a successful model for development

Abstract

African Independence launched into international politics a group of the world's poorest, weakest and most artificial states',1 noted Christopher Clapham [1996. Africa and the International System: The Politics of State Survival. Vol. 50. Cambridge University Press]. Despite the fact that, for more than five decades, Western aid agencies have been trying to improve and contribute to Africa's postcolonial development, today's development challenges in Africa remain eerily similar to those of the early 1960s.2 This failure is often attributed to the fact that these Western aid institutions were not sensitive to local realities. Rather, these institutions tried to impose what they saw as 'good governance' modalities, such as privatisation, deregulation, and welfare reforms. As such, this article analyses how Moroccan policy makers are adamant on continuity rather than change when it comes to theorising new strategies of development aiming at modernising agriculture. This will serve the objective of drawing broader conclusions on the effects of different western-conceived development paradigms on developing nations that are not moving beyond the ideological and epistemological straightjacket of their colonial legacies.