The King’s Speech

[Valin]

The Weekl;y Standard:

LEE SMITh
7/4/11

On July 1 Moroccans will vote on a set of constitutional changes proposed by their king, Mohammed VI. These new amendments guarantee the full equality of women and the rights of minorities, like the Berbers, whose language, Amazigh, will now be an official language alongside Arabic; they criminalize torture, establish the independence of the judiciary, and invest more executive authority in a head of government chosen from the party that wins the most seats in parliament.

(Snip)

The Moroccan reforms issue from negotiations and consultations that began in March, after Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Mubarak had already been swept away. Still, the reform process began much earlier than that, when Mohammed VI succeeded his father Hassan II on the throne in 1999. Over the last decade, opposition parties became restless and demanded the monarchy follow through on its promises. The Arab Spring filled the sails of reform. The proposed amendments, expected to pass by a large majority, will set Morocco on course for a constitutional monarchy resembling Spain’s​—​and, according to some analysts, will actually cede more power than Spain’s reformer king Juan Carlos was first willing to give up.

Still, Morocco has some way to go before it becomes a full democracy, since the king has reserved some key portfolios for himself. As a direct descendant of the prophet of Islam as well as commander of the faithful, he is still in charge of the religious establishment and military affairs. Also he has retained the role of supreme arbiter to resolve all conflicts within the government. Nonetheless, where sovereignty was previously invested in the person of the king, the effect of these constitutional changes—assuming they are endorsed by the voters, will be to distribute authority and turn subjects into citizens, participants in what the self-described “citizen king” calls a “citizenship-based monarchy.”

(Snip)

FYI.....Morocco - U.S. Relations

1750 - 1912
During the American Revolution, so many American ships called at the port of Tangiers that the Continental Congress sought recognition from the "Emperor" of Morocco. This was accorded, in effect, in 1777, making Morocco the first country to recognize the fledging American republic. Negotiation of a formal treaty began in 1783, and resulted in the signing in 1786 of the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both future U.S. Presidents, were the American signatories.

During the American Civil War, Morocco reaffirmed its diplomatic alliance with the United States by assuring Washington that the Kingdom, “being a sincere friend of the American nation, would never air or give countenance to the [Confederate] insurgents.”

The first international convention ever signed by the United States, the 1865 Spartel Lighthouse Treaty, dealt with a navigational aid erected on the Moroccan side of the Strait of Gibraltar. The Treaty, ratified by Morocco, President Andrew Johnson and nine European heads of state, granted neutrality to the lighthouse with the condition that the ten naval powers signing the agreement assumed responsibility for its maintenance.

(Snip)