Imagining algeria: The discourse of legitimacy and power

This paper examines the discursive contest for hegemony over the narrative of Algeria between the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) and Islamists. The FLN established a national (and nationalist) myth that justified their use of violence, legitimated their rule, and explicated the nature of the nation-state they created. While this national myth relied on notions of unanimity and the will of the people, it served instead to meet the goals of the ruling elite, which turned around power, prestige, and wealth. Over time, the authoritative power of the FLN national myth eroded, both because the social realities of the nation had changed and because there was too great a contradiction between the narrative of the myth and the reality experienced by the masses. This loss of mythic authority opened space for the proposal of an alternative myth by Islamists -- one that would justify the violence of the 1990s.