Makhzen (Algeria)

The makhzen (Arabic: مخزن) refers in Algeria to a doctrine of power and to the designation of a mode of state administration in force particularly during the period of the Regency of Algiers.

The origin of the “makhzen system” lies in the weakening of the Hafsid, Marinid and Zayyanid states towards the end of the Middle Ages linked to Spanish pressure in Andalusia and on the Maghreb coast, the Ottoman advance, and internal struggles.

The makhzen tribes were socially classified within the rural population of the Eyalet of Algiers, as they were strong supporters of the Ottoman Algerian administration in the countryside, where they were looking for strong local support that would enhance its influence and presence, and from the same rural community targeted in order to cover up the numerical weakness of the Ottomans who were confined to the main cities of the regency.

And all power, under the direction of the Pasha and the Beys, was in the hands of the Algerian sheikhs, east and west, plain and mountain[2]The makhzen tribes played multiple important roles, whether in terms of military or economic support, for the benefit of the Ottoman administration in Algeria, in addition to imposing public order and the authority of the beylikson the population.

[5] Their military importance also emerged in the western beylik in particular, the massive use of the makhzen tribes was due to the presence of imminent dangers represented essentially in Spanish Oran and the Sherifian Empire.

Originally, it applied more precisely to the large coffers where tax revenues were deposited, then extended to everything that the central power could acquire with its own funds (palace, army, etc.

Thus, the khodja are responsible for correspondence in Arabic, the chaouchs take care of police and intelligence, the khiela and spahis who constitute a paid cavalry and the askars and goums form a troop reserve that can be mobilized at the request of the central power, as from the time of the regency of Algiers.

The relationship between tribes and successive political powers allows us to understand and evaluate the role of the tribal structure in the context of contemporary Maghreb states.