POLITICAL PROCESSES IN MODERN MOROCCO. ISLAMIC FACTOR IN MOROCCO'S DOMESTIC POLICY

Nowadays Islam still has a huge impact on the way of life of Morocco's various strata of society, the political and economic activities and foreign policy of the state which belongs to both the Mediterranean and Islamic civilization. Morocco has a special place among the North African States, as in this country the king is both the supreme ruler, that is the head of the secular authorities, and "Prince of the believers", that is the senior cleric of the state. In addition, the Moroccan ruler is a direct descendant of Prophet Muhammad. However, despite this as well as the actual nonseparatedness of Islam and politics, in Morocco there is obvious dominance of the secular power. Over the past few decades the role and influence of Islam have undergone significant changes which affected mainly its impact on the socio-political life in the countries of the Islamic world, including Morocco. The main factors of Islam influence growth in Morocco are the crisis of the etatist model of the socio-political and economic development as well as the growth of social contrasts in the society. Despite the economic growth, a significant part of the population couldn't make use of its benefits: there are still vast areas of poverty; some regions of Morocco cannot enjoy the benefits of the economic development. In addition, there is constantly increasing disappointment with the results of the socio-economic policy of the Moroccan authorities. It particularly concerns young people as the most massive and fastest-growing population age group. The development of such a socio-political phenomenon as political Islam took place in almost every Muslim country according to a three-stage scheme: it originated from mosques and universities, expanded to Arab villages through village mosques, in order to ultimately win over the poorest areas of Arab towns and turn into a mass political movement, often threatening the stability of the existing regimes.