Authored by: Sameh Mohamed
The issue of civil-military relations in Algeria is considered one of the topics that sparks off many rigorous theoretical debates. On the one hand, some people think that the military institution is the main trigger of the Algerian civil war after it canceled the elections in 1991. They also believe the army was the main reason that prevented Algeria from transition to democracy because it dominated political life and prevented opposition movements from assuming power and even expressing their opinions.
Others, on the other hand, believe that such arguments are all false claims made by politicians to blame the army for their own inner failure and to justify their failure especially that any talk about colonialism and imperialism will no longer be accepted. They also think that some external players are plotting against the Algerian military institution to weaken it. Hence, they support the army’s intervention in politics, because it is the most organized institution in the country, it has a variety of social segments as its members, and it takes on the public sector’s role while the state’s role is becoming increasingly vulnerable.
In real life, Algeria’s military institution is playing a significant role in political life, this is mainly because it liberated Algeria from the French occupation and, hence, gained the legitimacy to rule the country later. Since the liberation of Algeria, the army has been taking over the presidency, either explicitly by nominating a military officer or implicitly by hiding behind a civil figure. In cases when civil presidents had disputes with military authorities, they were toppled either by forcing them to resign or by assassination.
Nevertheless, the military institution did not take complete hold of the presidency. Disputes used to arise between both institutions, which led some presidents to make some efforts to undermine military dominance on them.
The present study focuses on the attempts made by Abdelaziz Bouteflika to deal with military dominance, which was the biggest challenge to his power. To undermine that dominance, he sought to earn the trust of military leaders and secure civil as well as international support.
It seems that the issue of who will succeed Bouteflika will be essential for defining the future of the relation between the presidency and the military institution, which will be decided by answering the following questions: Will the army and the presidency agree on a civil president to come after Bouteflika? Will they continue to dispute over that, and, therefore, push Bouteflika for a fifth term? Will Qa’id Saleh, the Army Chief of Staff, nominate himself for presidency?
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