Abstract: | It appears that the Maghreb is moving, at the start of the 1990s, into a period of greater uncertainty than at any time since independence. There are three reasons for this. First, there exists at grassroot level a degree of resentment at North Africa's whole relationship with Western Europe, which is seen as one of continuing subordination and dependency. North Africans are poor by comparison with their European counterparts. Second, the political whirlwind released by the late Ayatollah Khomeini just over a decade ago has made an impression on ordinary Maghrebis rather than Maghrebi governments. Islamic fundamentalism appeals to the deprived and dispossessed, who have come to believe that, if Koranic guidelines are adhered to, their lot will improve in the end. Third, this scent of eventual triumph has been given a further boost by Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. This paper examines the attitudes of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia towards the West and the Soviet Union, and their reactions to rising Islamic fundamentalism. The author concludes that Islamic fundamentalism will not disappear from the Maghreb until there is a more genuine economic and commercial partnership between the three States concerned and the EC. Notes, ref. |