SUMMARY
Morocco gained its independence from being a French and Spanish protectorate in 1956. The first Moroccan King Muhammad V and his descendants King Hassan II and King Muhammad VI, who ascended the throne in 1961 and in 1999 respectively, ruled the country by authoritarian means. They retained substantial power despite the constitutional monarchy having representative institutions, multiple political parties and its first elections in 1963. In particular, King Hassan II utilized divisions, intimidation and repression to exert control resulting in large-scale human rights abuses between the 1960s and 1980s. In 1971, a group of army officers unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow the monarch and establish a republic in a short intrastate conflict and a second coup attempt failed in August the following year. However, King Hassan II increased his popularity after pursuing Moroccan claims for the territory now known as Western Sahara in 1974, when large phosphate reserves were discovered. This resulted in conflict with POLISARIO.
From the 1990s, concern over the threat of radical Islamic opposition caused the Government of Morocco to liberalize and broaden personal freedoms. Nonetheless, when the Arab Spring wave of popular uprisings hit Morocco in February 2011, protesters demanded reforms to the constitutional monarchy. Yet unlike in other states, a regime change or removal of the monarch was not called for. As a result constitutional reforms were made to increase the authority of the representative institutions. Despite this, the monarch retains absolute control over the armed forces and national security policies as well as religious issues. Furthermore, authority remains with the monarch for wider political duties such as selecting a prime minister from the majority party in parliament and approving the appointments of government ministers.
The Moroccan Royal Armed Forces consist of a large army and smaller air force and navy. It also includes the National Police Force and a Royal Gendarmarie that provides security for rural areas as well as an auxiliary force. In total, Morocco had approximately 50 000 to 61 000 troops in 1975. This grew to 245 000 in 2001, before dropping to 196 000 in 2017.
During its conflict with POLISARIO, the Government of United States of America provided economic support for military supplies and training between 1975 and 1981. This increased to include arms, military aircraft, as well as direct training from US military instructors deployed in Morocco coupled with some Moroccan personnel receiving training in the US after 1982. By 1989, the financial support for armament provided by the Government of United States of America was reportedly worth $859 million. France also supplied arms to the Government of Morocco during this conflict whilst Saudi Arabia provided significant financial support for military expenses of approximately 1 billion USD, but economic problems led to a decline in their financial assistance after 1987.
