A Perverse Symbiosis: The State, Islam and Political Dissent in Contemporary Algeria

Abstract

Algeria is the second largest country in Africa in terms of land mass and one of the first to have been formally colonized by a European power during the nineteenth century. It currently has close to 38 million inhabitants, mainly concentrated along towns and cities of the Mediterranean littoral. Over three quarters of Algerians are currently under the age of 30. Most of the population has Arabic as their first language, although a significant minority (about 20–5 per cent) is Berberophone or Amazigh, and French is widely spoken in urban areas. This reflects the rich legacy of successive invasions, originally by Arabs (who conquered and converted local Berber populations from the dominant animism to Islam from the seventh century onwards); subsequently by Ottoman authorities (who established a garrison in Algiers and three regencies or beyliks with capitals in Médea, Constantine and Mascara, lasting from the sixteenth to early nineteenth century); and finally, from 1830 to 1962 through its administrative incorporation into France and colonization by diverse European settlerṣ