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Patterns of Group Development in a New Nation: Morocco
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2014
Extract
The study of political groups has been characterized by large areas of general agreement and a relatively small output of precise application. Political scientists seem convinced that groups larger than the family and smaller than a nation are necessary in the analysis of more advanced political systems. But what variables of group behavior in this intermediate range may be most useful in studying development in new nations is a question little explored. Systematically assembled data have only recently been brought to bear on the study of political groups in the United States; and still more recently a survey of pressure groups outside the United States has appeared. The purpose of this article is to examine the importance of several widely accepted and frequently used variables of group behavior in the light of survey data collected in a new nation, Morocco. Pursuing the suggestion of Professor Blanksten, data collected in Morocco in late 1958 will be used to see how a particular way of analyzing group data may contribute to the study of less developed countries.
One important distinction employed here needs to be noted at the outset. Political scientists have generally used groups to study administrative decision-making or more formal, institutional aspects of government. This essay will argue that a group focus is of more value in the study of new nations where group activity can be correlated with levels of social development.
- Type
- Studies in Comparative Politics
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1961
Footnotes
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The author's travel and residence in Morocco were supported by a Ford Foundation Fellowship. The processing and administration of the questionnaire have been supported by Indiana University research funds.
References
1 Truman, David, The Governmental Process (New York, 1950)Google Scholar, and Ehrmann, Henry W., Interest Groups on Four Continents (Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1958)Google Scholar. Also see particularly Almond, Gabriel A. and Coleman, James S., eds., The Politics of Developing Areas (Princeton University Press, 1960), pp. 33–38 Google Scholar. The groups to be used in this study would fall largely in the category of “associational” groups in the Almond-Coleman terminology, ibid., p. 34
2 “Political Groups in Latin America,” this Review, Vol. 53 (03 1959), p. 121 Google Scholar. Although the author is essentially in agreement with Blanksten's observations, it is important to realize that the major reason why group analysis has not come to grips with “macro-problems” as suggested, ibid., p. 123, is simply that the large universe is hard to define in a way that leads to significant discovery. This is true of large universes when analyzed in other ways than those opened by various applications of group analysis.
3 An example of this type of analysis is LaPalombara's, Joseph article, “The Utility and Limitations of Interest Group Theory in Non-American Field Situations,” Journal of Politics, Vol 22 (02 1960), pp. 29–49 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. His study of an Italian interest group casts doubt on the usefulness of group studies outside the United States but does not establish that group-based studies might not be useful in analyzing broader social and political change, or even in the study of the “political process,” ibid., pp. 34 and 36, given different formulations of how group data might berelated to political problems.
4 The phrases “new nation,” “less developed nation,” “emergent nation,” etc. are used interchangeably here. Although the societal differentiations used here are based largely on firsthand observation, the author is reasonably certain that parts of France, Italy and possibly the United States would fall within the Moroccan “advanced rural” category. Indeed, we may even have some areas that are as “underdeveloped” as Morocco's more remote provinces.
5 Roughly the same point is made by Blanksten, op. cit., pp. 121–122. A different and thought-provoking viewpoint is put forward by Riggs, Fred W. in his forthcoming Public Administration in America, Thailand and the Philippines: Some Observations on Methodology and Significance (New Delhi, Indian Institute of Public Administration)Google Scholar.
6 The questionnaire was originally prepared in English. Two independent translations were made into Arabic, which were then merged with the help of a committee appointed for this purpose by Istiqlal headquarters. Then a third and separate translation was made into English. The regional party inspectors distributed one questionnaire, an envelope and a letter from party headquarters to each local secretary. The letter explained the purpose of the survey as an attempt to improve the party and to serve the nation better. The secretary was assured that his responses would be kept anonymous and that the sealed envelope would be opened only at party headquarters, thereby keeping his immediate supervisor, the inspector, from seeing his replies.
7 Ashford, Douglas E., “Transitional Politics in Morocco and Tunisia,” Current Problems in North Africa, Princeton, Princeton Conference Series, Number 20, p. 34 Google Scholar.
8 Background data are now available in Barbour, Nevill, A Survey of North West Africa (The Maghrib) (London, R.I.I.A., 1959), pp. 75–172 Google Scholar, which provide ample support for the broad differentiations made here.
9 Those familiar with Morocco may question three of the allocations of questionnaires. Although Marrakech province lies partly to the west of the Atlas ranges it was effectively isolated by the Glaoui-French empire to keep its inhabitants considerably in arrears of those nearer the coast. Both Oujda and Agadir provinces might be classified as belonging in the retarded rural category. However, the returned questionnaires came from the more intensely cultivated and irrigated regions of the Triffia plain of Oujda and the Sous valley of Agadir, and, therefore, more properly fit with the advanced category.
10 A more detailed description and historical background of the groups analyzed will be found in the author's forthcoming Political Change in Morocco, Princeton University Press, 1961, chs. 6, 10 and 12Google Scholar.
11 See the author's “Politics and Violence in Morocco,” Middle East Journal, Vol. 13 (Winter 1959), pp. 17–31 Google Scholar.
12 This touches an interesting point raised by LaPalombara, op. cit., pp. 41–44. Since he saw little evidence that his interest group, Confindustria, has “visible” representation in the formal decision-making apparatus he concludes that we should reconsider the generally held view that it is an influential group. But the occupation of formal, widely recognized “positions of influence” alone is often an extremely misleading indicator.
13 Sigmund Neuman makes this suggestion in Ehrmann (ed.), op. cit., p. 237.
14 The rank order for the feminist group seems questionable. A good deal of the author's less systematically collected information suggests that the feminists are more influential in the retarded rural areas than many other groups. If this is correct, then the simple fact of occurrence is an unreliable indicator of position in a power or influence structure.
15 If we wanted to examine only the level of group development, we might better have taken the average number of groups in each setting for the breaking point in each. For simplicity and conservation of space, the single breakdown is used here in two ways, i.e., both to study the kinds of group development in different settings that are at the same level, and also the direction of development in the three settings when development passes the given point. Analysis of the original data shows that little change in trends or rank orders would result from making separate tables for each inquiry. The total distribution shows that in the urban setting three-fourths of the cases had five or six groups. In the advanced rural settings nine secretaries reported no groups or only one, six reported the maximum of seven, while the intermediate numbers of groups ranged from 19 to 28 in no particular order. In the retarded setting a peak was rapidly reached at two and three groups, reported by over half the secretaries.
16 The proportion of sub-sections to sections varies also with societal settings. In the urban category (41 cases) there were 31 sub-sections, in the advanced rural (127) 51 sub-sections, and in the retarded rural (136) 83. The relation between social structure and party organization is analyzed in more detail in the author's Political Change in Morocco, op. cit., pp. 243–259.
17 Urban, 14 no responses; advanced rural, 72; and retarded rural, 80.
18 Urban “no responses” 5 and “yes” 1; advanced rural 10 “no responses” and 1 “yes”; retarded 24 “no responses” and 1 “yes.” On the whole the party secretaries were much more willing to answer questions specific about local conditions than to make broad estimates of the party's local effectiveness.
19 In the section meeting data there were 5 “no responses” and 1 “no” in the urban setting; 19 “no responses” and 15 “no's” in the advanced rural; and 21 “no responses” and 4 “no's” in the retarded rural setting. The “no's” probably meant no meetings, but they have been kept separate.
20 Urban “no responses,” 5; advanced rural, 39; retarded, 35.
21 Urban “no responses,” 5 and “yes,” 1; advanced, 23 and 9; retarded, 25 and 8.
22 Urban “no responses,” none; advanced 23, and 9 “yes's”; and rural retarded, 25 and 8. The rate of “no responses” is slightly higher in the advanced rural regions than in the more retarded where party secretaries are somewhat less well educated. This confirms the view that the rural organization, although less effective in its organization, may have more enthusiastic and militant secretaries. In the field work they generally appeared to be younger, to have more party education and to be more devoted. A local leadership study, Perspectives of a North African Nationalist,is now in manuscript form.
23 The use of indicators of this type helps to hurdle one methodological barrier to quantitative study of rapidly changing countries. In the pre-independence period political activity for the nationalists was largely confined to the more advanced areas where the Protectorate powers would allow them to go. In the post-independence period a very different unit of analysis is needed, the political system of all Morocco. Since the groups studied did not exist until independence, some indicators were needed that were unaffected by this discontinuity.
24 “Systematic Political Theory: Observations on the Group Approach,” this Review, Vol. 54, (03 1960), p. 28 Google Scholar.