The two decades of Bouteflika's reign have been the most devastating that Algeria has known since its independence from France, believes researcher Yahia H. Zoubir.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika ruled Algeria with an iron fist for 20 years, from 1999 to 2019. As a politician, he was one of the first architects of Algeria's authoritarian system in the decades following his accession independence from France in 1962.
His political career has different phases: during the first (1963-1979), he represented the face of the golden age of the country's foreign policy; then, during the following years, he went into voluntary exile, returning to the country only occasionally. In 1994, he refused the presidency, before finally accepting it five years laterIn 1999.
He came to power after a very controversial election; the day before the presidential election, six candidates voted withdrawn, believing - rightly - that he had already been chosen by those who hold real power.
His assumption of the presidency was a gratifying moment for Bouteflika. Twenty years earlier, he was firmly convinced that he was the rightful heir to his mentor, Houari boumediene, who ruled the country from 1965 until his death at the end of 1978 from a serious illness.
But that was not the case: because he did not inspire confidence, the head of the intelligence services and other powerful members of the regime prevented him from succeeding Boumedienne.
His accession to power in 1999 certainly reinforced his conviction that he should have been Boumédienne's legitimate successor. Nonetheless, his two-decade reign caused the most severe damage the country has ever seen since independence.
A man thirsty for power
Many Algerians continue to wonder how a man like Bouteflika managed to stay in power, serving not two terms - as provided for in the 1996 Constitution - but four. He wanted to run for a fifth time when he was removed from his post by the military the 2 April 2019, After mass protests continues calling for his departure and that of his supporters.
His many flaws did not go unnoticed during his long reign.
In 2003, the day before his second term, former defense minister Khaled Nezzar sharply criticized the president in a book titled Algeria, the Sultanate of Bouteflika.
A year later, Algerian journalist Mohamed Benchicou published a free in which he explained point by point why he considered the president to be an impostor, echoing the opinion expressed by credible historical leaders who felt he had played an insignificant role during the independance War.
Bouteflika's supporters painted a very different picture of him, calling him a grand mujahid and comparing him to great revolutionaries who fought colonial France. A qualifier that allowed him to legitimize his power as well as those who have usurped this title of "revolutionary" for their own interests.
The first years
In 1963, the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Khemisti, was killed by an allegedly unbalanced individual. Bouteflika, who held the post of Minister of Youth and Sports, then became at the age of 26 the youngest Minister of Foreign Affairs in the world, a post he held until 1979 and which he owes to Boumediene, his mentor, who also protected him.
During his first presidential term, Bouteflika succeeded in restoring the image of Algeria abroad; a great speaker, his speeches in international forums, such as the one in Davos, were well received. The events of September 11st gave it the opportunity to position Algeria as a credible partner in the fight against terrorism.
However, as Bouteflika reestablished relations with the Western powers, he totally neglected relations with sub-Saharan Africa, which did a disservice to Algeria, which began to lose the capital of sympathy it had acquired over the continent since the war of independence. Since he believed that foreign policy was his domain, no one could dispute his point of view.
During the first years of Bouteflika's tenure, Algeria experienced a high increase due to two major factors unrelated to it: a significant increase oil revenues and heavy rains. However, he did not know how to take advantage of this windfall and did not keep the promises he had made, in particular the reform of the universities of the school, the jusitice, the national administration and the banking system.
The middle and the end
Bouteflika affirmed need a second term to carry out the so-called reforms, but this second term, which began in 2004, has not been put to good use. Instead of developing his country, he spent his time consolidating his power and questioning the limited advances in democracy that Algeria had made since theintroduction multiparty system and press freedom in 1989.
To do this, he set up a system in which institutions were at the service of a few individuals, including members of his family, who were loyal to him.
In the absence of a real productive economy, the Algeria of Bouteflika depended exclusively on the oil rent, which was redistributed to co-opted clients, generating endemic corruption never seen in Algeria.
Bouteflika's regime sidelined the opposition parties, except for three of them who could hardly be called opposition parties. The so-called "presidential coalition" consisted of the former single party in power, the FLN, of his twin brother, the RND, which was established in 1997 to provide popular seating for Liamine Zeroual, and the Islamist party, the MSP.
Not content with having obtained these two mandates, Bouteflika decided in 2008 to amend the Constitution to remove the limit of two mandates and prepare the ground for his presidency for life.
Five years later, although unable to communicate and confined due to the second stroke he suffered, Bouteflika, or rather his entourage, sought to run for a fifth term in order to be able to remain in power until his dead.
During the last seven years of its presidency, Algeria has given the impression of being a ship without a captain; with the president rarely appearing in public, when he did he looked pathetic. His acolytes wanted the sultan to show up, even rarely, so that he could justify his stay in power to retain their privileges and continue to squander the country's resources.
The fall in the price of oil and the pauperization of large sections of society exasperated Algerians. However, what sparked the protest movement against the fifth term in 2019 was the intensity of the humiliation felt upon seeing their president derided over foreign television channels et exhibited almost paralyzed to prove he was still alive.
The Algerians were also unleashed when they saw the president become the object of the idolatry of his supporters, their worship reminiscent of pagan practices, an offense in an Islamic society.
Obviously, Bouteflika imposed new customs which Algeria will struggle to abandon in the years to come, and its legacy will haunt Algerians for many years to come. Little wonder his death on September 17 went unnoticed.
As stated a citizen : “These funerals are a non-event. Around me, nobody talks about it anyway, as if it was the death of a simple quidam, who has never been president. Algerians give the impression of having forgotten Bouteflika, of having turned the page of his reign. ”
Yahia H. Zoubir, Visiting researcher at the Brookings Doha Center and professor at the International Studies and Director of Research in Geopolitics, Kedge Business School
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.