Algeria endured one of the deadliest internal conflicts of the late twentieth century after the military-backed government cancelled elections in 1992 that an Islamist party was poised to win. What followed was a brutal civil war between security forces and clandestine armed groups, marked by massacres, assassinations, and a death toll estimated at well over 100,000 people through the decade.
The election of Abdelaziz Bouteflika as president in 1999 brought a measure of relief, as a limited amnesty for former fighters and promises of reform helped violence subside from its peak. Yet the underlying grievances that fueled the conflict, including a closed political system dominated by the military and security establishment, were never fully addressed, and pockets of insurgent violence persisted for years afterward.
Algeria’s economy has long been shaped by its dependence on oil and gas exports, leaving it vulnerable to global price swings and limiting the diversification needed to absorb a young, often underemployed population. That tension between a wealthy energy sector and widespread public frustration resurfaced dramatically in 2019, when mass protests known as the Hirak movement forced Bouteflika from office after two decades in power, reviving long-standing calls for genuine political change that remain unresolved.