{{Short description|Governing institution in North Africa}} {{Politics of Morocco}} '''Makhzen''' ({{langx|ar|المخزن}}, {{langx|ary|لمخزن}}, {{langx|ber|ⵍⵎⴻⵅⵣⴻⵏ|Lmexzen}}) is the governing institution in Morocco and in pre-1957 Tunisia, centered on the monarch and consisting of royal notables, top-ranking military personnel, landowners, security service bosses, civil servants and other well-connected members of the establishment. The term "Makhzen" is also popularly used in Morocco as a word meaning "State" or "Government".
==Etymology== {{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}} The word ''makhzen'' ({{langx|ar|مخزن}}) literally means "warehouse" in Arabic (from ''khazana'' 'to store up'), originally referred to where the sultans's civil servants would receive their wages, but over time ''makhzen'' in Moroccan Arabic became synonymous with the elite.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Akhbari |first=Rouzbeh |url=https://www.google.co.ma/books/edition/Unsettling_Colonial_Modernity_in_Islamic/WnXXDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=warehouse%20makhzen&pg=PA114&printsec=frontcover |title=Unsettling Colonial Modernity in Islamicate Contexts |last2=Kalmenson |first2=Felix |last3= |first3= |date=2017-05-11 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-9374-9 |editor-last=Saffari |editor-first=Siavash |editor-link=Siavash Saffari |pages=114 |language=en |chapter=Casablanca: From Protectorate to Neoliberal Polis- Reading the City Through Order and Progress |editor-last2=Akhbari |editor-first2=Roxana |editor-last3=Abdolmaleki |editor-first3=Kara |editor-last4=Hamdon |editor-first4=Evelyn}}</ref> It is likely a metonymy related to taxes, which the ''makhzen'' used to collect; the term may also refer to the state or its actors, but this usage is increasingly rare and is primarily used by the older generation.{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}}
It is the origin of the Spanish and Portuguese ''almacén'' and ''armazém'' (with addition of the Arabic definite article), meaning warehouse. It was also incorporated into French and Italian as ''magasin'' (meaning 'store') and ''magazzino''. It came into the English language from Middle French as ''magazine'', originally referring to a storehouse for ammunition and later to publications.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504091327/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/magazine |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 4, 2018 |title='Magazine' |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2018 |website=Oxford Living Dictionaries|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=4 May 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Dorren, Gaston|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1104596014|title=Babel : around the world in twenty languages|date=August 2019|publisher=Profile Books |isbn=978-1-78125-641-1|oclc=1104596014}}</ref> With the "store" meaning, it was also adopted from French into Russian as Магазин and into Romanian as ''magazin''.{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}}
==Makhzen in Morocco== {{Further|Pre-colonial Makhzen}} The Makhzen is a very ancient notion in Morocco, it roughly coincides with the notion of the feudal state predating the French protectorate in Morocco. ''Bilād al-makhzen'' ('the land of the makhzen') was the term for the areas under central government authority, while those areas still run by tribal authority were known as ''bilād as-siba'' ('the land of dissidence').<ref name="HoursAhmed2015">{{cite book|author1=Bernard Hours|author2=Pepita Ould Ahmed|title=An Anthropological Economy of Debt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6noGCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT83|date=10 April 2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-49708-0|pages=83–84}}</ref> Hubert Lyautey, who served as resident-general of Morocco from 1912 until 1925 during the era of the protectorate, was a fervent proponent of indirect colonisation, especially in Berber-speaking areas. Lyautey maintained the role of the Makhzen and even enhanced it by giving important roles to local notables such as Thami El Glaoui. Local notables acted as a relay between the population and the French authorities.<ref name="Hamadal-Anani2014">{{cite book|author1=M. Hamad|author2=K. al-Anani|title=Elections and Democratization in the Middle East: The Tenacious Search for Freedom, Justice, and Dignity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrE5AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT109|date=20 February 2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US|isbn=978-1-137-29925-3|pages=109–110}}</ref>
=== Post Arab Spring === In the post-Arab Spring era the Makhzen system has been forced to evolve in order to adapt to calls for reform, but has continued to operate. Whilst the 2011 constitutional reforms in Morocco nominally handed more power to elected officials the monarchy controlled these reforms and ensured that they did not remove it from the political sphere.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Maghraoui |first=Driss |date=2020-11-01 |title=On the relevance or irrelevance of political parties in Morocco |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/13629387.2019.1644920?needAccess=true& |journal=The Journal of North African Studies |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=939–959 |doi=10.1080/13629387.2019.1644920 |issn=1362-9387|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Morocco 2011 Constitution - Constitute |url=https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Morocco_2011 |access-date=2025-05-07 |website=www.constituteproject.org |language=en}}</ref> The Makhzen system has remained important in the informal working of the Moroccan Parliament. The process of government formation has forced political parties to include within their ranks those with close ties to the palace,<ref name=":0" /> as the palace remained highly active in coalition negotiations so as to ensure the government they wanted was formed.<ref name=":0" /> In order to gain power political parties may not criticise the Makhzen system, accuse the monarchy of operating a deep state or take any actions that could contradict the palace's positions on any issue in which the king has spoken directly.<ref name=":0" /> Meanwhile the monarchy has retained control over certain ministries in the government, preventing the PM from fully appointing their own cabinet, and has retained control over the security council.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sadiki |first=L |last2=Bouandel |first2=Y |date=2016 |title=The Post Arab Spring Reform: The Maghreb at a Cross Roads. |journal=Domes (Milwaukee, Wis.)}}</ref>
==Makhzen in Tunisia== {{see|Makhzen (Tunisia)}}
== Makhzen in Algeria == {{See|Makhzen (Algeria)}}
==See also== * Auxiliary Forces (Mokhzani) * Network monarchy * List of Moroccan royal residences, often referred to as ''Dar al-Makhzen''
== References == <references />
Category:Deep politics Category:Economic history of Morocco Category:Feudalism Category:Human rights in Morocco Category:Military history of Morocco Category:Moroccan Arabic words and phrases Category:Oligarchy Category:Politics of Morocco Category:Social class in Africa Category:Social history of Morocco