Situated on Europe's threshold, the Maghrib's core states--Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia--are confronted by many of the same dire political, social, and economic circumstances as the Arab and other Muslim countries farther east. However, these countries are often overlooked during debates over the future of the Middle East, even though their political and social systems appear more ripe for the kind of partnership envisaged by Western policy-makers than others in the region.

This volume features a topical focus on Islamic movements, an emphasis on the importance of the Berber dimension of contemporary North African society and politics, and the inclusion of a crucial transnational perspective stressing the Maghrib's ties to Europe. All of this is set against a backdrop of larger questions of history, memory, and national identity at the dawn of a new century.