Abdallah Saaf (born 1949) is a Moroccan political scientist and academic who was the minister of education between 2000 and 2002. He taught at different universities in Morocco and is the professor at the Faculty of Governance, Economic and Social Sciences of the

Mohammed VI Polytechnic University University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P; ) is a Moroccan non-profit private research university. Its main campus is located within the Green City of Benguerir. Centered on African development, the university is oriented towards applied resear ...

(UM6P), professor emeritus of political sciences at

Mohammed V University Mohammed V University (, ) is a public university in Rabat, Morocco. It was founded in 1957 under a royal decree ( Dahir). It is the first modern university in Morocco after the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez. It is named after Mohammed V of ...

and director of the Center for Studies in Social Sciences Research.

Early life and education

Saaf was born in

Kenitra Kenitra (, , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is a port on the Sebou River with a population of 507,736 as of 2024. It is one of the three main cities of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region and the capital of the similarly named Kénitra ...

on 19 September 1949. He graduated from the University of Paris II and from the University of Rabat (today Mohammed V University) receiving a degree in law. He completed his PhD studies in public law in 1978.

Career

Following his graduation Saaf taught at different universities and held several academic administrative posts. He joined a leftist party, Organization of the Popular Democratic Action (OADP), founded in 1983. It was part of the

Socialist Union of Popular Forces The Socialist Union of Popular Forces (; ; , USFP) is a social democratic political party in Morocco. It claims ideas of social justice, modernity and the fight against inequalities. History and profile The USFP was formed as a breakaway from ...

. In 1998 he was named as the deputy minister of technical and secondary education which he held until 2000. In 2000 he was appointed minister of education and was in office until 2002. He served in these posts in the cabinet led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Abderrahmane Youssoufi Abderrahmane Youssoufi ( ; ; 8 March 1924 – 29 May 2020) was a Moroccan politician and human rights lawyer who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Morocco from 1998 to 2002, serving under King Hassan II and King Mohammed VI. He was the Secr ...

. In 2011 immediately following the events across

Arab countries The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

known as

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

Saaf was elected as a member of the commission which drafted the revisions of the

Constitution of Morocco The Constitution of Morocco is the Basic Law of the Kingdom of Morocco. The constitution defines Morocco as an Islamic constitutional monarchy and lays out the fundamental rights of Moroccan citizens, it also defines the basis and structures o ...

. He is the founder of the Moroccan Association of Political Science. He has worked as faculty member at the

and is the professor emeritus of political sciences at

. He is also director of the Center for Studies in Social Sciences Research.

Work

In addition to his publications on political sciences Saaf published books about his daily bus journeys in Rabat. The first one was ''Carnets de bus'' published by Bus Notebooks in 1999. The other one was translated into English under the title ''A Significant Year'' in 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saaf, Abdallah 1949 births Living people Education ministers of Morocco People from Kenitra Mohammed V University alumni Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni Academic staff of Mohammed V University Academic staff of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University Moroccan political scientists 20th-century Moroccan writers 21st-century Moroccan writers Moroccan travel writers Socialist Union of Popular Forces politicians