Morocco's Bid For A Developmental State

This research tried to assess Morocco's effort in emulating developmental-state policies and institutions. Although the country has made strides in trying to attract more FDI to remedy to capital accumulation and efficiently allocating its resources to key industries, Morocco seems to fail in terms of technology transfer to upgrade its economy nonetheless. At the institutional plane, some developmental institutions have started to materialize such as developmental bureaucracy; nevertheless, a pilot agency and an empowered export promotion organization that will ensure the success of Morocco's export-led strategy remains an adumbration. In addition, Morocco doesn't capitalize on China's rise that has the potential to drive the country's development in a flying geese pattern.The establishment of SEZ's in China was the first move toward Chinese economic development. Morocco is poised to replicate the Chinese experience; however, more focus should be put on providing business-friendly environment to attract more FDI. Chapter 1 describes Morocco's efforts in the construction of a developmental state which could be subsumed under the three functions of growth (accumulation, efficient allocation and technology catch-up). The main findings indicate that Moroccan authorities are doing their best to attract more FDI to solve the problem of capital accumulation and progress has been made. Measures to efficiently allocate resources to particular industries along the line of developmental states have also been realized. However, Morocco is not aggressive enough when it comes to technology catch-up; the country has to adopt institutions to ensure technology transfer and diffusion in its economy to ensure a steady development.Chapter 2 begins by a brief history of Morocco's political economy. Then it describes Morocco's economic restructuring through its efforts in self-discovery and the recent industrialization policies taken which are developmental in the sense that they target key industries to which public funds will be efficiently allocated. This chapter also shed light on Morocco's bureaucracy which is becoming developmental and the need for a pilot agency and strengthening the Moroccan Export Promotion Centre (CMPE), the institution that should oversee the success of Morocco's export-led strategy.Chapter 3 argues that Morocco is provided with a favorable external condition for its development that of China's rise. Like any developmental state that takes advantage of the opportunities offered by the international system, Morocco, for its future development, should imperatively benefit from its relation with China in a flying geese pattern. After providing a detailed overview of Sino-Moroccan relations, we conclude that although Sino-Moroccan relation has been healthy throughout history, it hasn't been yet translated into an intensified economic cooperation that would bring about more investments and procurement of technology to Morocco. The same holds true with the other trade partners of Morocco.