ASSESSMENTS

Shaking Up Algeria's Government, One Small Reform at a Time

Jul 9, 2018 | 12:00 GMT

Algerian President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika is seen heading to vote at a polling station in Algiers on November 23, 2017. In 2019, Bouteflika will be running for his fifth five-year term.

(RYAD KRAMDI/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

Algeria's economy is struggling, and its citizens are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the stubborn ruling parties that have held a tight grip on power for two decades.
The economic woes have galvanized members of the feeble political opposition, who are demanding reforms such as economic diversification and the loosening of restrictive foreign investment regulations.
Dramatic economic reforms are unlikely under the current Algerian leadership, but even small changes, especially adjustments to foreign investment laws, are big in the context of the country's long-stagnant political system.

Algeria's political system has remained tightly controlled by its ruling parties for almost two decades, but major economic challenges have prompted those in power to listen to the opposition more seriously than ever before. Opposition parties have found the space to effectively channel real economic grievances, and they are helping nudge economic reform forward. In order to appease the growing opposition, the government will be motivated to enact minor economic reforms to keep the tide of domestic unrest at bay. And even these small changes signal a very new way of moving forward for the restrictive Algerian government....

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