The Idealized Nation-State, Globalization, Critical Geopolitics and the Case of Morocco

Abstract

The Moroccan nation-state is a taken-for-granted geopolitical entity that is represented by the Moroccan government and the core of the world system in ways that are consonant with their visions of reality. The primary goal of this thesis is to uncover the ideology and politics behind these visions of reality. Theories of critical geopolitics have been used to deconstruct Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara, its language policy, its economic policy, and its immigration situation. I have shown that the Moroccan government's views of its own nation-state are influenced by Arabo-Islamist ideology and that the core's perceptions of Morocco are influenced by colonial philosophy, modernization theory, and neoliberal thought. In these cases, geographical information that presents itself as objective is instead highly ideological and politicized.