Articulating political spaces: overcoming the civic dimension of citizenship performances in local Morocco

Participatory innovations tend to be understood as openings of civic space, assuming that improving the institutional arrangements for citizens’ engagement will enable them to better express their civic agency. This article reflects on how the institutionalisation of the right to petition Moroccan municipalities has influenced the space for citizenship performances by asking the following: which political spaces emerge from the exercise of the right to petition? Presenting first-hand accounts of the development and implementation of local petitions, this article argues that analyses of civic space risk neglecting the political relevance of bottom-up actions by focusing on a given set of conditions that enable citizens and civil society to engage with their polities. On the contrary, the concept of political spaces puts conflict, cooperation and the inner power dynamics they entail at the centre of attention – thereby providing key opportunities to assess the political dimension of civic agency.