Impacts of Imperialism
French and Spanish imperialism still affects Morocco today. The French culture has left a strong impact on the culture of the Moroccans. One aspect of the French culture that shows the affect of imperialism is the French language. After the French took over Morocco, the French language has become widely spoken. French is usually spoken in government and business. Even though the French language is not one native to Morocco, about half of the Moroccan population have the ability to speak in French. The Spanish language is also a part of the Moroccan culture that shows the influence of imperialism. Spanish is spoken by many people in northern Morocco, which was where the Spanish Protectorate had control. About 20,000 Moroccans know Spanish (Languages of Morocco - French to Arabic to English, Morocco.com; Morocco, CIA). Other ways that the French Protectorate still has an impact today is through the many railways, roads, and trading posts built in Morocco. Today, Morocco has one of the most developed systems of infrastructure in Africa because of the French (Infrastructure and Transport, Embassyofmorocco.com; Moroccan Soul: French Education, Colonial Ethnology, and Muslim Resistance, 1912-1956, Google Books). Furthermore, improvements made by the French helped improve Morocco's economy. Morocco's economy is in charge of providing a big percentage of the world's phosphate production as well as exporting other natural resources to some countries. Morocco is the largest exporter of phosphate and the third largest producer of the resource (MOROCCO, Worldatlas.com). The school system was another part of Morocco that was influenced by the French and Spanish. During the imperializing of Morocco, new schools were made that were different from the traditional Moroccan schools. These schools were more secular and less focused on religion (Moroccan Soul: French Education, Colonial Ethnology, and Muslim Resistance, 1912-1956, Google Books). Furthermore, the Spanish and French built new cities and towns in Morocco. Louis Lyautey helped create two cities on the coast, Kenitra (renamed Port Lyautey) and Casablanca. In Moroccan towns and cities, French architecture influenced the buildings (The French and Spanish in Morocco, Fsmitha.com; Languages of Morocco - French to Arabic to English, Morocco.com). Moreover, French influence can be seen in Moroccan law and government. The rules and laws of Morocco originate from the laws of France. The laws of Morocco were influenced by the French government. Moroccan laws are written based off of French laws and laws that apply to the Islamic religion (Morocco, CIA). All in all, French and Spanish colonization has left a very big impact on Morocco.
Morocco Today Today, Morocco's government is a constitutional monarchy with Mohammed VI as the current king. The government of Morocco is organized out into the three branches. The constitutional monarchy has a bicameral parliament, which is apart of the legislative or lawmaking branch, and a Supreme Court, which is apart of the judicial branch. The bicameral parliament consists of the Chamber of Counselors and the Chamber of Representatives. While Mohammed VI has been the King of Morocco since 1999, the prime minister is the person who heads the government. The prime minister is chosen by king. The current prime minister is Abdelilah Benkirane who has been prime minister since November 29, 2011. There is also a Council of Ministers, picked by the prime minister. Morocco's constitution was adopted on March 10, 1972 with changes made in 1992 and 1996. Morocco has a mixed legal system that is a combination of both France's laws and religious laws (Morocco, CIA).
Morocco's economy, today, has an "open, market-oriented economy" (Morocco, CIA). While Morocco was very deep in debt in the 1980s, reforms and changes were made to improve the economy. Under Mohammed VI, the economy of Morocco has been fairly stable. There has been slow and steady growth in the economy and decreasing rates of unemployment. In addition, Morocco's economy is being improved by additions in infrastructure. Important parts of Morocco's economy are agriculture, textiles, tourism, and phosphate Morocco's GDP per capital in 2012 was $5,300. GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product and is the "value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year" (Central Intelligence Agency, CIA). Morocco's rank in the world in GDP per capita is 151 but Morocco's GDP per capita has been increasing from year to year. From 2010 to 2012, the GDP per capita increased $300 (Morocco, CIA). Even though Morocco has a stable economy, they still struggle and face different challenges. Morocco still has problems with child labor and women's rights. In Morocco, children are being forced to work at very young ages. Girls who begin working at age 8 are treated very poorly. There has been physical abuse and extensive hours to earn very little. To illustrate, Jo Becker, a child's rights advocate said, "Girls are being exploited, abused, and forced to work long hours for extremely low wages. Morocco has taken important steps to reduce child labor, but it needs to take targeted actions to protect these child domestic workers and enforce the law" (Morocco: Abuse of Child Domestic Workers). The government of Morocco has been attempting to fix the human rights problems for children but there are no laws to prevent child labor (Morocco: Abuse of Child Domestic Workers | Human Rights Watch, Hrw.org). Furthermore, there are human rights problems involving women's rights and the inequality between men and women. The culture and traditions in Morocco and the illiteracy are reasons for why women do not report crimes committed to them (Global Rights: Morocco, Globalrights.org). Illiteracy is a problem that holds back the country. However, the king of Morocco has made improvements to help this problem and has brought down the rates of illiteracy. Today the percentage of the population that is literate is about 56.1%. 68.9% of the male population older than 15 can read and write while approximately 43.9% of the females are literate (Morocco, CIA). Morocco is still continuing to improve itself as the years go on, but still struggles with some problems. |
Mohammed VI
Mohammad VI, born in 1963 in Morocco's capital, is the current king of Morocco. He took over power in 1999 from his father, Hassan II. He is said to be a much less cruel ruler and is easier on his people of Morocco. Mohammad is now 49 years of age and he has made many improvements to the country. He has made laws to give people more rights. For example, he made "Mudawana" which is a law that comes from Koranic principles that allows women to marry at a later age and to be able to seek divorce, which is looked down upon from society. Also, Mohammad is known as the "guardian of the poor" because of what he does to fight against and stop poverty. In addition, he has been having investigations to look into human rights abuses from when his father was king (King Mohammed VI, Bornrich.com).
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