Similarities: Common Heritage of the Maghrib -- State Formation in Kin-Based Societies -- States, Nations, and Local Solidarities -- Central/Local Tension in the History of the Maghrib -- The "Republics of Cousins" in Politics -- Islam and Family Law: An Unorthodox View -- The Law in Islam -- Islamic Family Law --Customary Law -- Women Ally with the Devil: Gender, Unity, and Division -- Men as Unity -- Women as Division -- Marriage Alliances: Ideology and Reality -- Veils and Walls -- Men Work with Angels: Power of the Tribe -- Ties That Bind: Tribal Solidarity -- Tribes, Islamic Unity, and Markets -- Tribes and Central Authority -- Historical Differences -- The Precolonial Polity: National Variations -- Tunisia: Early Development of Centralized Institutions -- Algeria: Tribal Isolation and Weak State -- Morocco: Land of Government Versus Land of Dissidence -- Family Law as Mirror of the Polity -- Colonial Rule: French Strategies -- Form of Colonial Domination -- Colonial Manipulation of Family Law -- Three Paths to Nation-State and Family Law -- Palace, Tribe, and Preservation of Islamic Law: Morocco -- Coalition between Palace and Tribe (1940s-50s) -- Islamic Family Law Preserved: Choice of the Monarchy (1950s) -- Elite Divisions and the Law in Gridlock: Algeria -- Partial Reliance on Kin-Based Groups (1950s-60s) -- Family Law Held Hostage to Political Divisions (1950s-80s) -- State Autonomy from Tribe and Family Law Reform: Tunisia -- State Autonomy from Tribes (1930s-50s) -- The Transformation of Family Law (1930s-50s).