Morocco — A Narrative History of Post-Colonial Leaders (1956–2026)

The Kingdom of the West.

On 16 November 1955 an exiled sultan landed at Rabat to cheering crowds, and two days later, in the Throne speech that opens this book, announced "the end of the regime of tutelage and protectorate". France recognised Morocco's independence on 2 March 1956, Spain on 7 April. What followed was seventy years under three kings of a dynasty older than colonial rule: a sultan who became king and kept the throne above the parties; a son who survived two coups by his own army in thirteen months, ruled through the "years of lead", launched the Green March and, late in his reign, invited an old opponent to govern; and a grandson who opened a truth commission on his father's reign, passed a new family code and answered the protests of 2011 with a new constitution. Under that constitution, on 29 September 2026, he appointed the first woman to lead a Moroccan government.

Morocco: A Narrative History of Post-Colonial Leaders tells that story as a story — chronological, human and sourced. Six acts, named as the book names them: The Sultan Who Became King, The Throne Under Siege, The March and the Long Opening, A New Reign, The Constitution and the Street, and A Morocco at Two Speeds — to 29 September 2026, when King Mohammed VI appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri head of government.

Inside:

• The deep past — Jebel Irhoud and the oldest known remains of Homo sapiens, Volubilis and Fez, the Almoravid, Almohad and Marinid empires, the Saadians and the Alaouites, the scramble for Morocco, the protectorate and the Republic of the Rif, and the exile and return of the sultan
• The national emblem — the red of the Alaouites and the green star added by the dahir of 17 November 1915; the arms of 14 August 1957, with the setting sun, the Atlas band, the lion and the leopard; and the motto "God, the Nation, the King"
• Six illustrated acts, from independence to the elections of September 2026 — Mohammed V, the Istiqlal and the Rif rising of 1958–59; Hassan II's first constitution, the Sand War, the Casablanca riots, the disappearance of Mehdi Ben Barka and the coups of Skhirat and the royal Boeing; the Green March, the war with the Polisario until the ceasefire of 1991, the bread riots, Tazmamart and the alternance of 1998; Mohammed VI's Equity and Reconciliation Commission, the Family Code and the constitution of 2011; the Islamist-led governments, the Hirak of the Rif and the return to the African Union; the Al Haouz earthquake, Security Council resolution 2797, the Gen Z protests and the first woman head of government
• The country beneath the kings — the mountains and their Amazigh languages, phosphates, cars and visitors, water, women and the law, Jewish Morocco, its writers, Jemaa el-Fnaa and the Gnawa, its runners and the Atlas Lions, and the diaspora
• Verified quotes from Morocco's kings, and 51 key-fact cards on the pages that carry no picture or quote
• A chronology, a table of Morocco's leaders (three kings and seven heads of government), 67 source notes and a reader's guide of 125 entries — books, articles and chapters, reports and journalism, primary sources and archives
• Lessons in Leadership — what the country's best and worst moments teach those who lead, and an epilogue on the latest official data to September 2026 (High Commission for Planning, Bank Al-Maghrib, IMF)
• The recurring patterns — the throne above the parties, reform from above under pressure from below, the national cause, the price of bread, the Rif and the centre, truth told late, and a dynasty older than the colony

A clear, sourced introduction for anyone who wants to understand Morocco and North Africa, and a monarchy that has tried, in stages and under pressure, to share power with elected governments without giving up the throne's last word.

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