2. Researched and Written by Noah, Keyboarding Period 3

3. The country is the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria. Their current government type is a parliamentary republic. The influential recent protests began in early 2011. The citizens of the country were protesting because they wanted a democracy. The government established 23 new political parties. The leader, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, permitted private radio and television stations. The leader promised to amend the constitution to strengthen democracy as a response to the protests. The government launched a spending program to reduce the high unemployment rate as a result of the protests. The spending program helped to diversify the economy. The protests began in Algiers, Algeria.

4. Abdelaziz Bouteflika was born in 1937 and when he grew up, he fought against the French in the National Liberation army. He also became a major spokesperson for the nonaligned nations. He became an advisor to president Chadli Benejedid, but was dismissed in 1980 and spent much of the next 2 decades in exile. He left Algeria but returned in 1999. He ran for president as a candidate of the National Liberation Front and the National Democratic Rally, which are both military backed parties. He won the election because his competitors claimed that the election was rigged, so they stopped campaigning. In April of 2013, Bouteflika suffered a stroke and spent 3 months in France receiving medical treatment. Since returning in July, he has mostly kept out of the public eye, however, he changed his cabinet in September, which gave Bouteflika some attention in the press. In 2014, the FLN announced that it had nominated the 76 year old to serve a fourth term. He won the election. That is what he is currently doing.

5. The size of the country is 1,479,944 square miles. The population is 38,813,722 people.

6. 99% of citizens in Algeria are Muslim. Arabic is the official language. On July 5 th, 1962, they gained independence from France. In 2008, their constitution was amended. In the 20 th century, they had a civil war.

7. "Abedelaziz Bouteflika." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.. "Algeria." Fact Monster. Fact Monster, 2007. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.. "Algeria." The New York times. The New York Times, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.. "Arab Uprising: Country by Country." BBC News. BBC, 16 Dec. 2013. Web. 17 Sept. 2014..

8. Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 23 June 2014. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.. Kagda, Falaq. Algeria. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1997. Print. Cultures Of The World. MacLeod, Kevin. "Dream Culture." Incompetech. N.p., 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2014..