Radical Islam's Challenge to the Monarchy

Feud With King Tests Freedoms In Morocco

Since ascending the throne in 1999, Mohammed has transformed his country by approving parliamentary elections, a robust press and equal rights for women, giving Moroccans more freedom than most of their Arab neighbors in North Africa and the Middle East. Those changes have also given new life to long-suppressed opposition groups that are demanding more concessions from the king but do not necessarily believe in a Western-style democracy.

The Washington Post has run a major story on the challenge of Islamic radicals to the legitimacy of the monarchy, and the monarchy's subsequent prosecution of Islamist spokeswoman Nadia Yassine. Yassine's prosecution raises the question whether democratic reforms can survive Islamic radicalism, which poses the dual threat of provoking a backlash from the monarchy or taking power and extinguishing liberty.