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Ahmed Ben Bella – the country’s first President - served for 3 years and the government under his leadership became increasingly Socialist and authoritarian. Ben Bella was subsequently overthrown by defence Minister Houari Boumédienne who relied greatly on the army to maintain control and ruled through a military council. Boumédienne remained Algeria's undisputed ruler until his death in 1978, as all potential rivals within the regime were gradually purged or relegated to symbolic posts.
The Algerian economy became increasingly dependent on its nationalised oil industry as part of the regime’s systematic and planned programme of state-driven industrialization. After Boumédienne’s succession by Chadli Bendjedid the Algerian state became little more open, and continued to be both bureaucratic and corrupt.
The 1980s saw demographic changes in the country and the development of a better educated urban population capable of political organisation. Anti-government protest movements included Berber identity movements; and Islamic 'intégristes'. Both groups protested against one-party rule but also clashed with each other in universities and on the streets during the 1980s. Mass protests from both camps in autumn 1988 forced Bendjedid to concede the end of one-party rule.
Elections in 1991 saw the Islamic Salvation Front victorious in the first round, and the subsequent intervention by the military which cancelled the second round, and forced the then-President Bendjedid to resign. All political parties based on religion were banned, which led to a violent political conflict manifested in the Algerian Civil War. The war lasted for a decade and was largely fought between armed Islamist guerrilla organisations and the incumbent military regime. Estimates of numbers of deaths vary from 100– 200,000. Initial attacks were aimed at the army and police, but as the war progressed, civilians were both caught up and targeted.
In 1999 - following the election of President Bouteflika – an amnesty was declared for most guerillas and many ‘repented’ their role in the conflict. Fighting and terrorism has continued in the country with the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) refusing to give up the struggle, and allying itself with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in fighting against the Algerian government. The guerrilla insurgency has continued at a low level although bombings have occurred in the Capital Algiers.
Recommended readings Todd Shepard - The Invention of Decolonization: The Algerian War and the Remaking of France James D Le Sueur - Uncivil War: Intellectuals and Identity Politics during the Decolonization of Algeria Albert Camus – The Plague Franz Fanon – The Wretched of the Earth
Key facts
Key websites Columbia UniversityPennsylvania University African Development Bank Group Algeria and the UN The website of the Algerian Mission to the United Nations. This site provides updated information on Algeria's activities at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Algeria Channel Algeria's Unique and Diverse Culture and Tradition. Algeria Daily Online daily news magazine in English. Algerian News Agency An updated news website, both in French and English. A Bibliography of Events Since 1991 This website contains exhaustive references of written and other materials related to the past two decades of Algeria history. Panafrican Cultural Festival The festival is a 15-day celebration of african culture and a basis of the reconstruction of the African continent on dialogue and concord basis between all sons of the continent.
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