“The new Argelia” after Hirak: narratives and legitimation strategies vis-à-vis its European partners

The popular movement in Algeria against a fifth presidential term for Abdelaziz Bouteflika in February 2019 – known as the Hirak – laid bare the population’s discontent with a political regime incapable of satisfying its demands for dignity and political freedoms. In the face of the Hirak, the military took control again, imposing a road map aimed at re-establishing institutional normality. But neither Bouteflika’s resignation nor fresh elections served to give the new government the mantle of legitimacy of power, a fragility that it tried to offset by reviving traditional means – like historical legitimacy – and deploying a strategy on the international stage designed to win the support of international partners. This paper addresses the process of co-construction of a narrative with the aim of legitimising the political reconstitution of the post-Hirak Algerian regime, based on the examples of Spain and France.