The women's rights' debate.
The National Assembly on March 5 voted a new law setting out harsher sentencing for perpetrators of violence against women. The law does not introduce any major legal innovations, but appears to be a concession to the long-neglected progressives. The bill provoked virulent opposition among Islamist deputies, who declared it contrary to Muslim law and a threat to family stability. The debate around the bill has revealed a resurgence in public acceptance of Islamist political language. In an authoritarian political system that is neither autocratic nor democratic, social and cultural policy provides the main outlet for political debate.
The new law is unlikely significantly to improve the protection of women from violence.
Other laws touching on cultural identity will follow, eg new legislation on the status of the Amazigh (Berbers).
Such debates are likely to increase as the government seeks to distract from concerns over low oil prices and constitutional reform.
A mismanaged cultural identity debate, coupled with limits on the regime's ability to buy social peace, could lead to social instability.
