The art of survival: Elites and the politics of crisis in Algeria

Abstract

This article explains the endurance of Algerian authoritarianism through a historical-sociological analysis of elite reconfiguration in moments of crisis. Rather than privileging the military or opposition weakness, it argues that crises create openings for regime insiders outside the decision-making core to rise by adopting reformist and democratizing language while preserving the regime’s authoritarian pillars. Tracing the legacy of Boumediene’s 1965 coup across the Bendjedid, Bouteflika, and post-Hirak periods, the article shows how elite circulation, selective displacement, and institutional conversion repeatedly reproduced authoritarian rule instead of enabling democratic rupture.