The role of resources in the resolution of the Western Sahara issue

Power and Recognition: How (Super)Powers Decide the International Recognition Process

“…On the one hand, this decolonized the entity, but on the other it gave a special role to Morocco and Mauritania and granted some economic influence to Spain—an outcome that was forced on Spain by the Moroccan Green March . Since 1976, the Polisario movement stands at the forefront of the entity's attempts to secede from the central government of Morocco and to establish an independent state (Kingsbury , 255). The civil war between the Polisario movement representing SADR and Morocco resulted in the 1988 ceasefire (Novais , 61) and in the early 1990s in the establishment of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara that was to oversee the planned referendum on independence.…”

“…The referendum, however, has not yet taken place as, among other issues, arrangements over the details regarding the eligibility to vote have not been settled yet. Polisario seeks the referendum while there is no genuine attempt to reach agreement from the Moroccan side (Kingsbury , 256). The Moroccan government, in an attempt to pacify the region, pursued a military campaign against the insurgency.…”

“…Its Freedom House ranking is “partly free” while the situation in the Western Sahara is ranked as “not free,” mainly given Moroccan activities in the territory. Normative rules play a role in the process of the international recognition of SADR: it is recognized by over 80 countries and the AU (Kingsbury , 258), which did not allow Morocco to join the organization as a reaction to its actions in the Western Sahara. Nevertheless, there is no (super)power present in this group of countries.…”

“…The most recent dispute over the Western Sahara between Morocco and some external actors concerns the European Union's nullification of the trade agreement with Morocco over the issue from the end of 2015 and consequent diplomatic quarrel. The perceived occupation, since 1975, has been criticized by the UN and the UN lists the Western Sahara as a non‐self‐governing territory under the de jure rule of Spain, as its independent status is not recognized by Spanish government, and 80 percent de facto control by Morocco and 20 percent by SADR (Kingsbury , 256). However, SADR is not backed by any (super)power—there was a medium level of commitment among the SADR backers at its highest—and the Moroccan regime is receiving some form of tangible and political‐diplomatic support as well.…”

“…As in the previous case, we can see that a lack of highly committed support transforms into a lack of collective recognition. Likewise, despite the fact that the entity is currently recognized by about 80 (mostly third‐world) countries and the European Union, while the Moroccan position is officially supported by about 20 countries (Kingsbury , 258), SADR lacks both de facto and de jure independence.…”