Multilateral Financial Flows and Moroccan State-Business Relations

Seven years after the start of the "Arab Spring", many non-democratic regimes are still in place in most of the Middle East and North Africa, in some countries even more entrenched than before. More research is now emerging on how these regimes have survived the protests, in a way harking back to the literature that dominated the field in Middle East Studies prior to the Arab Spring, namely that of the resilience of authoritarianism. The EU has often been criticized for prioritizing security and migration concerns over a more democracy promotion policy towards this neighbouring region. The focus is almost entirely on the new EU neighbourhood policy and its funding. But there is a lack of specificity and attention to how these financial flows from the EU and other multilateral financial institutions reinforce regimes in the Middle East and North Africa. I will argue that the specific type and destination of multilateral financial flows strengthen and create potential regime insiders. The focus is on financial transactions between three multilateral institutions, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC, part of the World Bank Group) and private actors in Morocco. What is of interest, is that they are provided through multilateral institutions in which countries, both democratic as well as non-democratic ones, are members. The fact that these flows come from multilateral institutions of which Western states are major shareholders carry with it a political significance which is lacking when it comes to private credit flows. This article will therefore shed light on the interlinkages between states, private business actors and multilateral institutions.