What is the Makhzen? Power and security in Morocco

What is the Makhzen? The question resurfaces whenever Morocco is at the centre of a diplomatic row with Spain, France or Algeria. The word is often used as shorthand for a Moroccan 'deep state', but its meaning is older and more precise: it refers to the network of power centred on the monarchy — the royal court, senior officials, the security forces and a web of loyal elites. This profile explains where the term comes from, how the security apparatus is organised today and why its role is read in such different ways.

Key facts

• Origin of the word: from the Arabic makhzan, 'storehouse' — the root of the French magasin and, via Spanish, the English word magazine. It meant the place where the sultan kept his taxes and, by extension, his government.
• Head of state: King Mohammed VI, on the throne since 1999.
• Religious authority: the king is 'Commander of the Faithful' (Article 41 of the 2011 Constitution).
• Military command: the king is Supreme Commander and Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces (Article 53).
• International rating: the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index classifies Morocco as a 'hybrid regime'.

From the sultan's court to the modern state

Before the French and Spanish protectorates (1912–1956), the Makhzen was the sultan's apparatus: viziers, tax collectors, caids and tribes that supplied soldiers in exchange for land or exemptions. French colonial scholarship popularised the contrast between bled el-makhzen, lands that paid taxes, and bled es-siba, lands beyond its reach; later historians such as Edmund Burke III have criticised that binary for flattening a far more negotiated reality.

After independence, Hassan II (1961–1999) centralised power after surviving two military coup attempts, in 1971 and 1972. The decades that followed, known as the 'Years of Lead', were marked by repression of opponents. In 1970 political scientist John Waterbury described the system as a set of rival elites balanced by the monarch, who hands out favours and sanctions so that none grows too strong. Under Mohammed VI, the Equity and Reconciliation Commission was set up in 2004 and examined thousands of cases of human rights abuses committed between 1956 and 1999.

The king does not rule against the elites but through them — by keeping them divided.

Editorial summary of John Waterbury's thesis (1970)

How the security apparatus is organised

Royal Armed Forces (FAR)

Founded in 1956, the armed forces answer directly to the king. Their main front since 1975 has been Western Sahara, where they fought the Polisario Front until the 1991 ceasefire, which broke down again in 2020. The Royal Gendarmerie, a military force, mainly polices rural areas and roads.

DGSN and DGST: police and domestic intelligence

The General Directorate for National Security (DGSN) is the police; the General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DGST) is the domestic intelligence service. Since 2015 both have been headed by the same man, Abdellatif Hammouchi, who has led the DGST since 2005. The DGST also oversees the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), created in 2015 for terrorism and organised-crime cases.

DGED: foreign intelligence

The General Directorate for Studies and Documentation (DGED) is the foreign intelligence service, reorganised after the 1972 coup attempt. Since 2005 it has been run by Yassine Mansouri, the first civilian in the post and a former classmate of the king.

Interior Ministry and territorial administration

Walis, governors, caids and, at neighbourhood level, the moqaddem form a network of administration and local information that scholars regard as one of the system's historic pillars. For two decades, from 1979 to 1999, Interior Minister Driss Basri embodied that power.

The 2011 Constitution, adopted after the protests of the February 20 Movement, widened the head of government's powers, but reserved to the Council of Ministers — chaired by the king — the appointment of the heads of internal security, of walis and of governors.

Acknowledged successes: counter-terrorism cooperation

After the 2003 Casablanca bombings and the 2004 Madrid train attacks, in which several Moroccan nationals took part, Rabat's counter-terrorism cooperation with Europe deepened. Spain and Morocco have carried out numerous joint operations against jihadist cells, and French officials publicly thanked Morocco for intelligence after the Paris attacks of November 2015. Hammouchi has been decorated by Spain. To the system's supporters, that effectiveness proves a solid state in an unstable region.

The controversies: what is proven and what is alleged

• 1965, the Ben Barka affair: opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka disappeared in Paris. A French court convicted General Mohamed Oufkir in absentia; the case has never been fully solved.
• 2014, crisis with France: a French judge's summons for Hammouchi over torture complaints led Rabat to suspend judicial cooperation with Paris for almost a year.
• 2021, Pegasus: the Forbidden Stories journalism consortium and Amnesty International named Morocco as a likely client of the spyware, with thousands of numbers of interest, including President Macron's. Morocco denied it and sued for defamation in France; those suits failed. In Spain, the judicial investigation into the infection of the prime minister's and defence minister's phones has not produced an official attribution.
• 2022–2023, European Parliament: a Belgian judicial investigation into alleged corruption in the Parliament, dubbed 'Qatargate', included allegations concerning Morocco. Rabat denies any involvement, and proceedings were still open at the time of the latest reports consulted.
• Press freedom: groups such as Reporters Without Borders have condemned the jailing of critical journalists; a royal pardon in July 2024 freed several of them.

A 'deep state'? Two readings

The first reading sees the Makhzen as an unelected core that keeps the key decisions — security, foreign policy, religion and major investment — above the elected government, and uses the security services to watch the opposition. The second describes an executive monarchy that guarantees continuity and stability, has introduced gradual reforms and is a reliable security partner for Europe. Both agree on one thing: the centre of gravity of Moroccan power lies in the palace, not in parliament.

It is worth remembering that 'deep state' is not an official concept and has no single academic definition; describing the Makhzen that way is already an interpretation.

Conclusion

The Makhzen is at once an old word, a way of governing and a modern, effective security apparatus. Understanding it means separating what is documented — its structure, its history, its counter-terrorism record and the proven controversies — from what belongs to accusation or rumour. For Europe, and above all for Spain as Morocco's neighbour and partner, that distinction matters.