Postcolonial States

It is often assumed that postcolonial states have very little in common with the colonial versions of themselves. In Morocco, however, there is a very significant degree of continuity between the political-economic policies of the governments of the French Protectorate (1912-56) and the post-independence state. In those regions where the European powers set themselves up as new rulers, their goal was to make the colonies profitable. But economic success was elusive in those primarily agrarian societies where no mineral deposits or oil could be easily harvested. In such colonies the Europeans developed plans for exploitation that usually combined a profound lack of knowledge about the region with a belief in the universal applicability of European methods and technology and a relative indifference to the fate of the indigenous population. In Morocco the French overlords, worked on behalf of large financial interests. The colonization of the country was undertaken primarily at the behest of a French financial consortium made up of half a dozen French banks and investment companies. These investors sought to transform the nation into a major source of agricultural imports--to be produced primarily by colonists with enormous land holdings. Traditional rural society was nearly destroyed under the Protectorate but after independence the government engaged in the pursuit of the same goals, simply replacing colonial landowners with a new class of local gentry who had the sam

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aders in the port cities who became protTgTs of the Europeans were not, for example, subject to much influence from the court. The result of the heavy importation of European goods, oversold in the attempt to develop new markets, was far "in excess of what could be paid for by the export of grain, wool and dates" and this created a sharp imbalance of trade which drew off the country's silver reserves and created steep inflation (Brett 280). Without a strong central government and under the stress of heavy debt and inflation the Sultan felt compelled to sign the 1912 treaty. But his subjects considered this "a betrayal of his people" and they reacted with open rebellion in many locations (Brett 281). It was to take France until 1934 to subdue the whole of the Moroccan territory under its protection. But all the uprisings and resistance were "crushed legally" since the treaty of 1912 contained a second article which authorized France to "proceed to such military occupation of Moroccan territory as it may deem necessary for the maintenance of good order and the security of commercial transactions" (quoted in Hoffman 158). As the French occupied successive regions of the nation they imposed their own rule by "weaken[ing] the po

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