Since independence, a decision-making system has been built which monopolizes different levels of decision in the hands of 'the pretorian'. At the end of the 1980s, having been opposed by the temporary alliance between those who were in power and the Islamic movement, reforms failed. After the bleak 1990s, President Bouteflika has succeeded, up to a certain point, in imposing a new balance between different circles of power, but the system set up in the 1960s is still in place.

Mohammed Hachemaoui holds a Ph.D. in political science (Institut d’études politiques de Paris). He works on the sociology of clientelism, corruption, the spread of the rentier State, and the resilience of authoritarianism. An invited professor at Université de Perpignan, he is currently writing a book on vicious circles that mix clientelism and corruption in contemporary Algeria.

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