Morocco’s dual realist and neoliberalism foreign policy: An examination of Morocco’s decision to strengthen ties with Israel, 2009–2023

The most common explanation for Morocco’s foreign policy in the 21^st century is the realist one, which argues that after the Arab Spring, Morocco focused on gaining power by making efforts to exert broader influence on African states, establish and nurture regional military alliances against terror groups, and reinforce security collaborations in the Western Sahara conflict against Algeria. However, this article argues that since 2009, Morocco has strongly embraced a neoliberal foreign policy strategy based on knowledge-based economy (KBE) cooperation alongside the subaltern and peripheral realist approach, contributing to the strengthening of ties with Israel. The study employs a mixed methodology, encompassing qualitative and quantitative analyses, to explore the extent of the KBE policy’s influence on Moroccan-Israeli relations from 2009 to 2023.