Mohamed Tozy - "Imaginary of the State in the neo-liberal age (the case of Morocco)".

France CultureLa suite dans les idées" by Sylvain Bourmeau, 20/2/2021
with Béatrice Hibou (co-author of Weaving political time in Morocco) and Leila Slimani

 to listen

Based on the often caricatured case of Morocco, which is particularly interesting in this respect, political scientists Béatrice Hibou and Mohamed Tozy develop an ambitious sociology of the state and its transformations under the influence of neoliberalism. 
They are joined in the second half by Leila Slimani.

"In recent years, particularly as a result of protests against police violence, Max Weber's canonical definition of the state as an institution claiming a monopoly on legitimate violence has spread far beyond the realm of social scientists. But it would be a pity if it were to overshadow other definitions of the state, also proposed by the great German sociologist at the beginning of the twentieth century. And in particular this one, which is more complex but far richer: "An infinite number of human actions and passive acts, diffuse and discrete, an infinite number of relationships regulated factually and legally, unique in their kind or recurrent, all held together by an idea, by the belief in norms that are actually in force or that should be, and by relationships of domination between human beings. This belief is in part an ideal property developed by thought, in part it is confusedly felt, in part passively accepted, and it is present with the most varied nuances in the minds of individuals, who, if they really had a very clear conception of this idea as such, would have no need of a "general theory of the State" which aims to develop it." Béatrice Hibou and Mohamed Tozy have turned this impressive definition into a veritable research programme, and over a period of thirty years have conducted an investigation into the Moroccan case, with the broader ambition of helping to understand the transformations of the State in the era of neo-liberalism.