Changes in Algerian Foreign Policy Under Bouteflikas...

When Bouteflika became President in 1999, there were no indications that the Algerian foreign policy would undergo any change. Alexis Arieff’s assumption that: â€Å"The legacy of Algeria’s anti-colonial struggle contributes to Algerian leaders’ desire to prevent direct foreign intervention, their residual scepticism of French intentions, and Algeria’s positions on regional affairs, including a non-interventionist stance† (1) was an anticipation that no far reaching variations in the Algerian foreign policy could be expected. More than that, being one of the chief architects of Algeria’s nationalist foreign policy of the 1960s and 1970s, Bouteflika’s known attitude to foreign policy suggested continuity rather than any radical break with the recent past. Similarly, the prevailing political situation in Algeria suggested that there was almost no prospect that the tensions in Algerian-Western relations would diminish in the foreseeable f uture. However, if one considers Algeria’s domestic imperatives, geostrategic considerations, the fast-changing regional and international order, and the country’s foreign policy outlook, then one logically realises that the prevailing geopolitical context in Algeria, starting from the 1990s, necessitated a new foreign policy paradigm; one that adapts to the changing realities without necessarily compromising â€Å"the doctrines, principles and practices that drove the foreign policy of the government since independence in 1962† (Boukhars). Against all