User:Nadhir.khelkhal/Makhzen (Algérie)

The makhzen, in arabic: مخزن, refers in Algeria to a doctrine of power and to the designation of a mode of state administration in force notably during the period of the Regency of Algiers. It corresponds to a form of management of the link between people and central state in the Maghreb prefigured in its central part since the Fatimid period and developing particularly under the Zianid.

An ancient system of relationship between state and people
The origins of the "makhzen system" lay in the weakening of the Hafsid, Marinid and Zianid states towards the end of the Middle Ages due to Spanish pressure in Andalusia and on the Maghreb coast, the Ottoman advance and internal struggles. These dynasties called upon the Hilalian Bedouin tribes to maintain a minimum of power and delegate to them the control of part of their territory. This is the system of iqta: the tribes levied taxes, which they paid in part to their sovereign, to whom they also owed military service. This system, which was developed at the time of these three dynasties, already existed under the Fatimids and was particularly used by the Zianids dynasty, which was considered the weakest of the time

The regency of Algiers and the colonial episode
.Etymologically, the word makhzen means "store" or "tax" and ends up designating by extension the entire state apparatus of the regency of Algiers. Originally, it applied more precisely to the large coffers where the proceeds of taxes were deposited, before extending to everything that the central power could acquire with its own funds (palaces, army...); then to the people, which from a conceded territory, had to render a service to the power in place. At that time, it was translated, on the social level, by the division of the society into tribes, some of which were called makhzen. These tribes were privileged: they provided troops to the Regency and were in charge of maintaining order and collecting taxes. The concept of "makhzen tribe" is opposed to that of "raya tribe", taxable and subject. Later, Emir Abd el Kader abolished the distinction between makhzen and raya tribes in order to unify his domain

Dans l'Algérie coloniale, dès le XIXe siècle, le makhzen constitue un mode de domination politique attrayant pour les Français qui dans la continuité de la Régence vont même un temps reconstituer son ancien makhzen. Ce « makhzen colonial » permet aux bureaux arabes de poser les bases d'une hiérarchie de commandement, d'avoir des relais dans l'ensemble du territoire. Outre les dignitaires recrutés parmi les tribus (aghas, khalifas, caïds...), il permet de former un corps de fonctionnaires indigènes composé de groupes subalternes. Ainsi, les khodja sont chargés des correspondances en arabe, les chaouchs s'occupent de police et du renseignement, les khiela et spahis qui constituent une cavalerie soldée et les askars et les goums forment une réserve de troupe mobilisable sur demande du pouvoir central, comme du temps de la régence d'Alger. Le terme makhzen donnera le mot mokhazni désignant un corps de supplétif des troupes coloniales.

Le makhzen et la politique contemporaine
Dans l’administration de l'Algérie indépendante, comme dans d'autres États arabes, une culture bureaucratique a tendance à se substituer à une culture patrimoniale. Le monopole de l'appareil administratif par une élite politisée concurrence le modèle traditionnel du makhzen. L’État arabe contemporain se trouve ainsi entre deux archétypes, celui de l’État makhzen dont les conditions n'existent plus et celui de l’État administratif dont les conditions ne sont pas encore tout à fait mises en place.

Annexes

 * Algérie
 * Régence d'Alger
 * Histoire de l'Algérie

Liens externes

 * Les entrées, et

Bibliographie

 * G. Marçais, Le makhzen des Beni ‘Abd al-Wad, rois de Tlemcen, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie et d’Archéologie de la Province d’Oran, 61 (1940).