support a thoroughly educated and informed public, a tolerance for the questioning of authority and the spirit of solidarity. The more educated, the more questioning, and the more civic we become, the greater the chances of having a brighter and better future will be. No doubt, it doesn’t make sense to follow blindly orders emanating from above without knowing how our government functions and how it should be running to ascertain that it is running efficiently for everyone and to make sure it is not corrupt.

I daresay that citizens should question authority, for no governing authority should ever have absolute sway over people, and that calling authority into question is a vital element in the movement for change, for there would be no be no social, political, environmental and whatnot change on this planet, had there been no questioning of authority by the people. If this questioning of authority never occurred, where would we be right now?  The less citizens question authority, the more power a select few have. And when a select group of selfish individuals have absolute power, then calamity follows naturally.

As a matter of fact, there should be no delegated responsibility without accountability; the latter is a management monitoring process that entails providing feedbacks with respect to a person’s performance. Any person holding an office in any given government is held accountable to the citizens he is supposed to serve for the promises made along the campaign trail and for the work performed during his/her term. If an official is found guilty of misappropriating public funds that were placed in his/her care, (s)he normally has to face up to punishment and restitution. Not only is (s)he obliged to return the money that was embezzled, but he has to incur further penalties as well, like incarceration and fine to set an example for prospective wrong-doers. Therefore, punishing an offender ruthlessly is designed to achieve the goal of deterrence.

I think that a democracy with no protest or visible dissent must be either extremely efficient and representative or suffering from deplorable public apathy. It is high time we stopped fleeing from the ugly truth of being unable to be true to ourselves; we had better give up wearing the mask of pretending to be virtuous, for living this lie is our deep dark secret. Imagine, for just a second, a world where no one lies to himself/herself, where everyone is being his/her real self, where each individual steadfastly adheres to moral guiding principles regulated by pangs of conscience.

Can you feel and taste the delight of being your true real self for once? Can you sense the freedom you will feel as a result of deciding to throw away the mask that you so habitually wear? Are you afraid of being authentic? Well, it is really draining to constantly pretend to be someone else when you do know that you are not the person you are portraying for others to see. I think that the best way to knowing oneself is to begin knowing oneself. We have to know who we are, to set goals in life, to have the audacity to acknowledge our shortcomings and limitations, and to come to terms with our vulnerability that is protected by the mask we wear. Exposing our true imperfect self will help us establish genuine and fruitful relationships with our fellow citizens.

Throughout the book, I went over the different historical stages of the Kingdom where the state had updated the constitution several times; As a matter of fact, each epoch has its own legitimacy. The national economic and social legitimacy during the late King’s era could no longer fit in with the democratic spirit of modern times. In the past, the Moroccan regime had successfully managed to contain internal crises; however, these “achievements” should not be regarded as long term victories, for the increasing power of the state presaged the erosion of its legitimacy.

It dawned upon the political regime that to adopt democratic values and principles had become an ineluctable reality. Thereby, the departed king laid the foundation stone for free and prosperous Morocco under a constitutional monarchy, launching constitutional reviews in 1970, 1972, 1992, and 1996. Despite the existence of some new constitutional clauses that were meant to revitalize parliamentary democracy, the King did not abdicate some of the key prerogatives that he still enjoyed. For instance, according to article 27, the King could still dissolve the chamber of representatives by decree.

The turning-point came when King Mohammed VI, on March 9, 2011, delivered an extraordinary televised speech to his people in the aftermath of protests that had spread to a number of cities in Morocco. In that famous speech, the King proposed a new constitution (the sixth constitution) that would guarantee “rule of law” and would reduce the powers of the King and increase those of the elected government. No one can deny that there are some limits set by the new constitution to the King’s prerogatives. Yet, he remains very powerful in that he retains complete control of the armed forces, foreign policy, the judiciary and matters pertaining to religion.