Abd al-Aziz Boutafliqa held public office at a time when the terms of that office were themselves being contested.
The record lists Abd al-Aziz Boutafliqa as President of Algeria from 1999 to 2019.
Abd al-Aziz Boutafliqa was born at Oujda in 1937. His recorded nationality is Algeria. He was educated at University of Algiers 1.
Twentieth-century politics was conducted under the shadow of two world wars, decolonisation and the Cold War, and broadcast to electorates that could watch it happen.
The record of office reads: President of Algeria (1999–2019), chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity (1999–2000) and President of the United Nations General Assembly (1974–1975).
His political affiliation is recorded as National Liberation Front.
Power is judged twice: once by contemporaries who felt it, and again by historians who did not.
Formal honours included the Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Collar of the Spanish Order of the Civil Merit (2002), Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry and Order of José Martí.
That the career was made in Algeria is not incidental: the institutions available, the franchise, and the constraints of the moment all shaped what could be attempted.
Abd al-Aziz Boutafliqa died in 2021, aged 84. The assessment continues, as it does for anyone who held power - which is the ordinary fate of a political life.
Achievements
- President of Algeria (1999–2019)
- chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity (1999–2000)
- President of the United Nations General Assembly (1974–1975)
- Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria (1963–1979)
- Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
- Collar of the Spanish Order of the Civil Merit — 2002
- Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry
- Order of José Martí
- Educated at University of Algiers 1
