Co-opting identity: the manipulation of Berberism, the frustration of democratisation, and the generation of violence in Algeria

The purpose of this working paper is to explore one of the political premises of the current violence in Algeria, namely the character of the identity politics which has developed in the Berberophone Kabylia region of the country, which was the theater of the most sustained riots in Algeria's history. A secondary, theoretical, purpose is to demonstrate and establish the analytical value of the concepts of forms of politics and political mutation.