 Ellen Lust-Okar, Divided They Rule: The Management and Manipulation of Political Opposition How do state-created institutions influence government-opposition relations during prolonged economic crises? Different experiences in Morocco and Jordan challenge the widespread notion that economic crises promote political opposition. While the opposition in Jordan consistently demanded reform, the opposition in Morocco initially challenged the regime but then became unwilling to challenge it further as the crisis continued. Different institutional structures explain these strategies. In Jordan formal institutions did not promote divisions between opposition groups, and opposition elites were more likely to mobilize political unrest. In Morocco incumbent elites divided political opposition into loyalist and radical camps, and the loyalist opposition became unwilling to mobilize unrest. |