Religious Factors in North African Integration
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54691/gdncqn80Keywords:
North Africa, Islam, Integration, Maghreb Union.Abstract
The long-standing stagnation of North African integration is due to a complex and diverse set of reasons, including structural factors such as political divisions, economic disparities, and external intervention, as well as deeper socio-cultural variables such as religion. As a crucial region of Islamic civilization, North Africa's population, with over 90% sharing an Islamic identity, provides a potential value foundation and cultural resource for regional integration. However, when religion is politicized or conflicts with the interests of core countries, its spillover effects can weaken the regional institutionalization process. This paper aims to explore the role of religion, particularly Islam, in the North African integration process. Within a constructivist and identity politics framework, it uses comparative qualitative methods and typical cases as empirical evidence to analyze its internal logic, thus providing a new perspective for understanding the role of religious factors in contemporary regional cooperation.
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