Resumen de The Civil Society, the Commune, the Parliament: strategies for political promotion of young rural leaders in the province of El Hajeb, Morocco

Hind Ftouhi, Zakaria Kadiri, Mohamed Mahdi

• español

  Teniendo en cuenta que las elecciones son un momento propicio para plantear cuestiones políticas locales, este artículo analiza las estrategias de los jóvenes líderes, hombres y mujeres, de la provincia de El Hajeb, en Marruecos, y cómo negocian sus funciones de liderazgo a nivel local. Este artículo se basa en observaciones y entrevistas semiestructuradas realizadas a jóvenes líderes y especialistas durante las elecciones legislativas de octubre de 2016. Si bien algunos jóvenes logran acceder a los consejos municipales, ilustramos que no pueden convertirse en parlamentarios debido a la falta de una red social que amplíe su circunscripción, así como a la falta de recursos materiales para llevar a cabo su campaña electoral. Para las mujeres jóvenes, el acceso al parlamento es aún más difícil, en particular si no obtienen un escaño mediante el sistema de cuotas para mujeres. Conscientes de sus recursos limitados, algunos jóvenes consideran el momento electoral como un recurso en sí mismo para afirmarse a nivel local y negociar su ascenso político. Paralelamente, desarrollan estrategias electorales para posicionarse como líderes locales sin presentarse necesariamente como candidatos a las elecciones legislativas, eligiendo: a) pasar por varias estructuras electivas locales y regionales; b) reforzar su posición dentro de cualquier partido político; c) involucrarse durante muchos años en el trabajo asociativo mientras intentan ascender del territorio de su pueblo a la comuna, a la provincia; y d) recurrir a la notabilidad familiar. Nuestro objetivo es demostrar que los jóvenes dirigentes no son instrumentalizados por los posibles representantes electos, sino que negocian cuidadosamente el apoyo que les brindan para consolidar su liderazgo local.

• English

  Bearing in mind that elections are an auspicious time to raise local political issues, this article analyses the strategies of young men and women leaders inthe province of El Hajeb in Morocco and how they negotiate their leadership roles at the local level. The article is based on observations and semi-structured interviews conducted with young leaders and resource holdersduring the legislative elections of October 2016. While some young people manage to accessmunicipal councils, the present authorsfind evidence to suggest that they cannot become parliamentarians because of being hampered by a lack of social networksthat would broaden their constituency, as well asa lack of material resources to run their election campaigns. For young women, access to parliament is even more difficult, particularly if they fail to obtain a seat through the women’s quota system. Conscious of their limited resources, some young people consider the electoral period as a resource in itself for asserting themselves at the local level and negotiating their political rise. In parallel, they develop electoral strategies to position themselves as local leaders without necessarily running as candidates in legislative elections by choosing to: a) go through several local and regional elective structures; b) strengthen their position within any political party; c) get involved for many years in associational work while attempting to move upwards from the territory of their village to the commune, and then to the province; and d) draw on family notability. The authors’ aim is to show that young leaders are not instrumentalised by potential elected representatives but thatthey carefully negotiate the support they provide to such representatives in order to consolidate their local leadership.