Algeria’s reforming decade (1988–1998): neoliberalism as a tool for survival

Algeria’s integration into the global neoliberal economy accelerated in the context of debt servicing problems. International Financial Institutions supported such integration through a reform agenda based on the ‘Washington Consensus’. This article highlights how Algeria’s military-bureaucratic elites influenced the process thanks to their understanding of the main principles that informed it. This underscores the problematic aspects affecting the intervention of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Thanks to the study of the IMF, World Bank and Algerian primary sources, this essay argues that Algeria managed to rebalance its position towards international creditors. The IMF and World Bank-sponsored programmes not only supported the regime during a civil conflict against jihadist insurgents. They also favoured the renewal of neopatrimonial mechanisms keeping Algeria’s military-bureaucratic elites in power. Exploring the management of financial assistance, is fundamental to understand how Algeria did not address historical socio-economic problems paving the way for renewed popular contestation and financial hardships.