“No nation can survive without myths, and no youth can flourish without idols.”
Yasmina Khadra
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Population
Area
Currency
Religions
Sunni Islam, Ibadi minority
GDP (nominal)
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Political system
Having gained independence from France in 1962 following a violent war of liberation, Algeria was governed by the National Liberation Front (FLN) within a centralized political system dominated by the military. Following a period of state socialism and the nationalization of the oil and gas industry, the economic crisis of the 1980s led to political liberalization, which was cut short by the annulment of the 1991 elections won by Islamists, plunging the country into a deadly civil war known as the “Black Decade.”
Under Abdelaziz Bouteflika (1999–2019), the country regained relative stability thanks to oil revenues and a policy of national reconciliation, at the cost of severe political repression. The Hirak protests in 2019 led to his resignation without any structural transformation of the system. Algeria remains stable but heavily dependent on hydrocarbons.
Elected in 2019 following the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Abdelmadjid Tebboune embodies the continuity of a military-dominated political system in the post-Hirak era. He exercises strong authority within a largely closed institutional framework, despite high social expectations. His government emphasizes economic sovereignty and diversification away from hydrocarbons, with limited results.
On the diplomatic front, Algeria pursues an independent line, aligned with the Beijing-Moscow axis and opposed to any normalization with Israel. Relations with France remain tense, and the rift with Morocco is widening.
