ALGERIA: IS THERE A WIND OF CHANGE AFTER THE ELECTIONS OF 2017 AND THE REVOLUTION OF 2019?

Abstract

The top oil and gas producer Algeria with a huge land area is of strategic importance for Europe because of the proximity to this continent. However, this country remains frozen in time with undeveloped oil-dependant economy, considerable state subsidies and omnipresent security apparatus. Being surrounded by unstable Tunisia, Libya, Niger, Mali, and by regional adversary Morocco, Algeria has no choice but to devote considerable funds to defense purposes. It is important to state that such budget allocations were acceptable when international prices of crude oil were substantial. Now, in order to fulfill various social obligations, the government has to use extensively forex reserves. The former President Abdulaziz Bouteflika had been ill since 2012 and the country was clandestinely ruled by the alliance of his brother Said, Bouteflika, party leaders of National Liberation Front and the military brass. Today after the People’s revolution of 2019 they have to make a choice – to continue with the current policy of de-facto military rule and face another revolution or slowly liberalize from the top. The author makes an attempt to analyze how Algeria is trying to cope with the most recent challenges without major reforms.
Key words: Algeria, Morocco, the Russian Federation, China, subsidies, oil and gas, military spending, pipeline, reforms.

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