Le secteur associatif en Algérie : la difficile émergence d’un espace de contestation politique

The brief period of political openness experienced in Algeria during the late 1980s allowed emergence of a non-profit and voluntary sector undaunted by the civil war of the 1990s. However, this so-called “civil society” is struggling to free itself from the grasp of a strong government, skilful at co-opting and instrumentalizing civil society actors in building its legitimacy both internally and externally. State control has its limits however, and with the inertia that has marked partisan politics, certain non-profits, even if only a minority, have managed to create an opposition space building on international resources.