Algeria

Algeria

When mass protests erupted in Algeria in 2019, on a scale unseen anywhere in the region since the Arab Spring, the outside world was taken by surprise. Algeria had been largely unaffected by the turmoil that engulfed its neighbours in 2011, and it was widely assumed that the population was too traumatised and cowed by the country’s bloody civil war to take to the streets demanding change. Michael J. Willis offers an explanation of this unexpected development known as the HirakMovement, examining the political and social changes that have occurred in Algeria since the ‘dark decade’ of the 1990s. He examines how the bitter civil conflict was brought to an end, and how a fresh political order was established following the 1999 election of a dynamic new leader, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Initially underwritten by revenue from Algeria’s substantial hydrocarbons resources, this new order came to be undermined by falling oil prices, an ailing president, and a population determined to have its voice heard by an increasingly corrupt, out-of-touch and opaque national leadership. Exactly twenty years passed before Bouteflika’s presidency was brought to an end by the Hirak protests—this book is an authoritative account of them.

Algeria's Human Rights Crisis

Introduction to Algeria

Algeria is the biggest country in Africa and is located on the continent's northeastern coast, bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The country shares its borders with Tunisia, Libya, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Western Sahara, and Morocco. Algeria's population is around 42 million, with Arab and Berber ethnicities making up the majority of the population. The official languages of Algeria are Arabic and Berber, and French is widely spoken. Algeria is a country rich in history and culture, with influences from its diverse past, including Berber, Islamic, Ottoman, and French colonization. It gained independence from France on July 5, 1962, after a long and brutal war that lasted eight years. Today, Algeria is an upper-middle-income country with a mixed economy that relies heavily on its vast oil and natural gas reserves, making it the largest exporter of natural gas to Europe. Despite its economic strength, Algeria faces several challenges, including high unemployment, insufficient housing, and political instability.