Automatically generated rough PDF by ProofCheck from River Valley Technologies Ltd DE GRUYTER Global Jurist. 2017; 20170009 Francesco Biagi 1 The Algerian Constitutional Reform of 2016: A Critical Analysis 1 University of Bologna, Department of Law “A. Cicu”, Bologna, Italy, E-mail: francesco.biagi82@gmail.com Abstract: In February 2016 the Algerian Parliament adopted a broad-sweeping constitutional reform, which came into force in March of the same year. The paper addresses the long process of revision of the 1996 Constitution and discusses the most significant novelties introduced by this reform. The paper argues that while from a political standpoint Algeria was and still remains in many ways an “exception” in the MENA region, from a constitutional point of view, on the contrary, Algeria followed to a large extent the same path pursued by the vast majority of the Arab countries. Keywords: Algeria, constitutional reform, Arab Spring, political regimes, innovation and continuity with the past DOI: 10.1515/gj-2017-0009 1 Introduction Following its announcement by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April 2011, the reform of the 1996 Algerian Constitution – which had previously been amended in 2002 and 2008 – was finally adopted in February 2016. It is a broad-sweeping reform, which affects the preamble and all four titles comprising the Constitution, namely “The general principles governing the Algerian society”, “The organisation of powers”, “The control, the su- pervision of elections and the consultative bodies” and “The constitutional revision”. According to Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, the 2016 reform marked the start of “a new era” and of a “rigorous renewal of the Republic” (see Bozonnet 2016), whilst critics have pointed out that it has not altered the nature of the Constitution which – far from being “a Constitution of a State”– remains “a Constitution of a regime” (Oussedik, Taleb Ibrahimi, and Driss Aït Hamadouche 2016). In actual fact however, as this paper will attempt to demonstrate, both positions appears to encapsulate an element of truth: whilst on the one hand the reform introduced several important novelties which effectively point towards greater democratisation (con- sider the grant of official status to the Berber language ( Tamazight), or the reintroduction of the limit of two terms in office for the President), on the other hand it has not altered the excessive concentration of powers in the hands of the President, with the consequence that the principle of the separation of powers – which is now explicitly provided for in the Constitution – remains more theoretical than substantive. The first section of this paper will examine the process (slow, obscure and top-down) that led to the adoption of the reform at the start of 2016. The second part will address the most significant novelties introduced by this reform, highlighting the main analogies and differences compared to other Constitutions from the Arab world. In particular, the analysis will focus on the preamble, the principles and fundamental rights, the form of government and the separation of powers, as well as the judiciary and constitutional justice. Finally, the last section will argue that while from a political standpoint Algeria was and still remains in many ways an “exception” in the MENA region, from a constitutional point of view, on the contrary, Algeria followed to a large extent the same path pursued by the vast majority of the Arab countries. Indeed, the 2016 reform features a two-fold tendency which has also characterised many other constitutional reforms adopted in North Africa and in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab uprisings, namely innovation on the one hand and continuity with the past on the other. Francesco Biagi is the corresponding author. Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Comparative Public Law at the School of Law of the University of Bologna; Researcher, Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development (University of Bologna – Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe). © 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. 1 Bereitgestellt von | De Gruyter / TCS Angemeldet Heruntergeladen am | 30.08.17 11:32