Morocco
Morocco holds regular multiparty elections for Parliament and local bodies. Reforms in 2011 shifted some authority over government from the monarchy to the national legislature. Nevertheless, King Mohammed VI and his palace maintain full dominance through a combination of substantial formal powers, informal lines of influence in state and society, and ownership of crucial economic resources. Many civil liberties are constrained in practice.
Research & Recommendations
Morocco
| PR Political Rights | 13 40 |
| CL Civil Liberties | 24 60 |
Overview
Morocco holds regular multiparty elections for Parliament and local bodies. Reforms in 2011 shifted some authority over government from the monarchy to the national legislature. Nevertheless, King Mohammed VI and his palace maintain full dominance through a combination of substantial formal powers, informal lines of influence in state and society, and ownership of crucial economic resources. Many civil liberties are constrained in practice.
Democratic resilience will increasingly depend on stronger coordination among countries that share a commitment to freedom, the rule of law, and accountable governance.
International support for democratic institutions, civil society, and independent media has been associated with modest but meaningful improvements in democratic governance, and it is far less costly than the military outlays necessitated by rising authoritarian aggression.
Young people are increasingly dissatisfied with democracy—not because they reject its principles, but because they see institutions failing to deliver on them. Programmatic work should create clear pathways for meaningful political participation, from voting and policy engagement to community organizing and public leadership, so that young people can translate their expectations into agency.
Morocco
| A Obstacles to Access | 18 25 |
| B Limits on Content | 21 35 |
| C Violations of User Rights | 15 40 |
Political Overview
Morocco holds regular multiparty elections for Parliament and local bodies. Reforms in 2011 shifted some authority over government from the monarchy to the national legislature. Nevertheless, King Mohammed VI and his palace officials maintain full dominance through a combination of substantial formal powers, informal lines of influence in state and society, and ownership of crucial economic resources. Many civil liberties are constrained in practice.
Access to the internet is under threat as authoritarian powers continue to create barriers for people to freely express themselves online. Internet shutdowns, throttling, and platform blocking remain among the most common tools of digital repression. At the same time, digital technologies serve as a lifeline for people seeking to expose human rights violations to the outside world and hold dictators accountable.
Protecting privacy online is essential to safeguarding free expression in repressive contexts. Without strong privacy protections, journalists and human rights defenders may self-censor out of a fear of reprisal. Rapid advances in AI—and the growing threat of automated vulnerability exploitation—heighten these risks, leaving civil society organizations increasingly vulnerable to sophisticated cyberattacks.