Help promote human rights in the Middle East and North Africa

Donate Today
Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube
Search
Close
  • English
  • العربية
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • FAQs
    • Support Dawn
    • Work With Us
    • For the Media
  • Founder Jamal Khashoggi
    • Who Was Jamal Khashoggi?
    • Chronology of a Murder
    • UN Recommendations
    • International Reaction
    • In His Own Words
    • DAWN and Jamal
  • Countries
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Egypt
    • UAE
    • Israel-Palestine
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
  • International Actors
    • DAWN's Advocacy
    • USA
    • Aid Conditionality
    • THE LOBBYIST HALL OF SHAME​
  • Democracy In Exile
    • About
    • Submission Guidelines for Democracy in Exile
  • Experts
  • Latest
Menu
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • FAQs
    • Support Dawn
    • Work With Us
    • For the Media
  • Founder Jamal Khashoggi
    • Who Was Jamal Khashoggi?
    • Chronology of a Murder
    • UN Recommendations
    • International Reaction
    • In His Own Words
    • DAWN and Jamal
  • Countries
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Egypt
    • UAE
    • Israel-Palestine
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
  • International Actors
    • DAWN's Advocacy
    • USA
    • Aid Conditionality
    • THE LOBBYIST HALL OF SHAME​
  • Democracy In Exile
    • About
    • Submission Guidelines for Democracy in Exile
  • Experts
  • Latest
Donate

State Building and the Post-Gaddafi Libyan Crisis

November 12, 2020
in Democracy In Exile
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Youssef Mohammad Sawani

Youssef Mohammad Sawani is Professor of Politics & International Relations, University of Tripoli, Libya

The recent U.N.-sponsored meetings of the various Libyan factions held in Geneva, Morocco and Tunisia may bring a spark of hope that this conflict-ridden country may at last see some peace.

However, Libya's conflict, which has been raging since 2011, seems to defy resolution despite U.N. mediation efforts. Politically divided, Libya lacks nationally effective, legitimate state institutions that have the monopoly of the legitimate use of violence and are able to serve their citizens.    

Libya shares with other modern Arab nations a contradiction that has existed since their creation. Their instability reflects a contradiction between the traditional Arab-Islamic model and the modern western model of the nation state. Both the monarchy, which lasted from 1951 to 1969, and the Gaddafi regime failed to transcend the contradiction.

Therefore, the old, traditional local roots of the state, including those of tribalism and the contest between the centre and the periphery, tend to resurface at every possible opportunity. This is particularly obvious whenever there is a weak state or authority, employing different, interacting elements of society (especially identities subsumed to the all-encompassing national identity), and the economy, which further expose the state and its fragility.  

The current Libyan conflict is not merely a political one only involving the alliance built around the internationally recognized, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, and the alliance of the Tobruk-based House of the Representatives and the Libyan National Army.

Its deeper roots can also be found in the inherent weakness of civic and democratic culture, in the oil-dependent rentier economy, in the lack of institutionalism, and in the increasing influence of the geographic peripheries at the expense of the centre.

In particular, the lack of efficient and functioning institutions reveals a long process of politicization of public administration, exclusion and mistrust between individual components of society and between these components and the state – for example, the vague and sweeping exclusion of large segments of the population who ever worked for the government and public sector during the 42 years of Gaddafi's rule, under the infamous Political and Administrative Isolation Law, enacted in 2013 by the now-disbanded General National Congress.    

The exclusion of the peripheries, a common practice during the monarchical and Gaddafi eras, actually goes back to the history of Ottoman foreign occupation and European colonialism, which mostly confined the "state" to the coastal regions. Inhabitants of the desert and the mountains frequently revolted against these forms of authority, seeking their share of wealth or, in many instances, denying the central authorities legitimacy by refusing to pay taxes.

Any serious analysis needs to link today's conflict to the struggle for the acquisition of centrally controlled resources. The legal framework governing the management of the state's financial resources dates back to the beginnings of the modern Libyan state, after the discovery of oil in 1956 and the subsequent export trade, and especially after adoption of the constitutional amendment, in 1963, that ended a short period of federalism.

Its fiscal rules solidified the rentier economy and led to the strengthening of centralization during the Gaddafi era, despite the attempt to ease popular dissatisfaction through local administration arrangements adopted during the 1990s. Once Gaddafi was gone, this centralization became more consolidated despite some efforts at installing a new local-governance system.

The policies that Gaddafi adopted rested upon the continuous change and shaking of state institutions and an abject contempt for the culture of institutionalism and rule of law. The political ideology of the regime and its practices adopted the objective of building a unique political community that shared little with political polity as commonly understood.

The whole mark of the "Jamahiriya model" that Gaddafi sought to establish was a negation of all forms of political activity and rendered politics obsolete in favour of a system of aggregation in which the "Brother Leader" occupies the centre.  

This unique system made use of some historical incidents of tribal animosities to divide and rule a society that lacked experience as a nation-state and identified central authority with foreign rule.

Moreover, repressive and manipulative practices further undermined civil society and trade unions, while enhancing the role of traditional structures such as the tribal system, thus strengthening their influence in favour of Gaddafi's eccentric model. Gaddafi's attempt to engineer values and attitudes most conducive to his ideas disrupted the evolutionary process of a Libyan political community and a modern civic national culture.

In addition to promoting a culture of dependency, the state under Gaddafi became the sole employer and made the private sector fully dependent on its spending on public projects, as indicated by the experience of the 1990s until 2000, when the regime, faced with international sanctions and growing popular discontent, was compelled to adopt Infitah, or openness. Moreover, corruption became widespread, sustained through state contracts and spending that benefited elements of the regime and business circles associated with it.

For decades, senior officials and ministers, as well as private business owners, sometimes were tried in court and then jailed on charges of corruption, only to be pardoned by Gaddafi and either returned to their official roles or promoted to even higher positions, or granted lucrative state contracts.

The bitter experience of the Gaddafi era led to an almost complete erosion of the notion of the public good. He manipulated public attitudes to generate disrespect for state institutions and the rule of law. Therefore, Libyans became comfortable with their lack of interest in institutional processes, producing a culture that despises institutions. There was also little respect for the state, equating it with executive government, which was perceived to be void of the values of transparency and accountability and rife with corruption.

Once the regime fell in 2011, institutions – including the army and security forces – became both tools and a manifestation of conflict rather than participants in reconciling the needs and demands of the parties for state-building. Many new arrangements and institutions were established, alongside the remnants of previous ones, to serve the interests of particular factions.

They were harnessed for partisan, political, tribal and regional interests, creating more sources of conflict. Such practices were instrumental in establishing the power of the new elites, thus making sure they had no rivals, at the expense of the country's stability.

This has gravely hindered national reconciliation and much-needed state building. Nevertheless, Libyans are hopeful that the ongoing talks sponsored by the U.N. Support Mission in Libya may actually lay a foundation stone for a more inclusive, peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Photo caption: This picture taken on November 2, 2020 shows a view of the aircraft of the UN's acting envoy to Libya at the airport in Ghadames, a desert oasis some 465 kilometres (290 miles) southwest of the capital Tripoli. – Rival Libyan military officers began talks on November 2 on home soil for the first time following a ceasefire agreement last month, discussing implementation of the deal. The three-day meeting of the joint military commission is taking place at a remote area near Libya's borders with both Algeria and Tunisia, far from the power bases of either side. The military commission had been dubbed "5+5", because it is made up of five officers from each camp. (Photo by – / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Tags: Gaddafi regimeHuman rights abusershuman rights violationsLibyaMoroccoTunisiaU.N. mediationUS foreign policy
Previous Post

Stability or Democracy: the Same Old Question for Egypt

Next Post

The Syrian Regime Finds a New Battlefield on the Internet

Related Posts

GAZA CITY, GAZA - MAY 24: A Palestinian girl stands amid the rubble of her destroyed house in Beit Hanun town northern Gaza Strip,on May 24, 2021 in Gaza City, Gaza. Gaza residents continue clean up operations as they return to damaged and destroyed homes as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appeared to be holding into a fourth day. The ceasefire brings to an end eleven days of fighting which killed more than 250 Palestinians, many of them women and children, and 13 Israelis. The conflict began on May 10th after rising tensions in East Jerusalem and clashes at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound. (Photo by Fatima Shbair/Getty Images)
Democracy In Exile

'Door on the Road,' a Poem From Gaza

"In the Refugee Camp, / after the explosion, a door flies into a far street, / rests near a...

Mosab Abu Toha
May 13, 2022
Democracy In Exile

Why the UAE Wants to Be Club Med for the World's Kleptocrats

The United Arab Emirates has become one of the world’s leading money laundromats. It's not just a money-making scheme,...

Andreas Krieg
May 12, 2022
Democracy In Exile

The Clashing Narratives That Keep the U.S. and Iran at Odds

The impasse in talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal is not surprising. The situation is fraught in both...

John Tirman
May 10, 2022
Democracy In Exile

Demolishing the Beirut Port Silos Will Deepen Lebanon's Collective Amnesia

Lebanon’s political class is determined to erase yet another one of its crime scenes: the site of the 2020...

Soha Mneimneh
May 6, 2022
Next Post
Syrian boys ride their bikes under pre-Baath Syrian flags, that was adopted by the Syrian revolution during the uprising, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on March 15, 2015, to mark the fourth anniversary of Syria's conflict, which began with anti-regime protests in mid-March 2011 and spiralled into a bloody war after a harsh government crackdown on demonstrators. AFP PHOTO / AMC / ZEIN AL-RIFAI        (Photo credit should read ZEIN AL-RIFAI/AFP via Getty Images)

The Syrian Regime Finds a New Battlefield on the Internet

GAZA CITY, GAZA - MAY 24: A Palestinian girl stands amid the rubble of her destroyed house in Beit Hanun town northern Gaza Strip,on May 24, 2021 in Gaza City, Gaza. Gaza residents continue clean up operations as they return to damaged and destroyed homes as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appeared to be holding into a fourth day. The ceasefire brings to an end eleven days of fighting which killed more than 250 Palestinians, many of them women and children, and 13 Israelis. The conflict began on May 10th after rising tensions in East Jerusalem and clashes at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound. (Photo by Fatima Shbair/Getty Images)

'Door on the Road,' a Poem From Gaza

May 13, 2022

Why the UAE Wants to Be Club Med for the World's Kleptocrats

May 12, 2022
NABLUS, WEST BANK - MAY 11: Press members holding photos of female reporter of Al-Jazeera television channel Shireen Abu Akleh, died as a result of fire opened by Israeli soldiers, are seen in front of the hospital as Akleh's dead body is brought to Al- Najah Hospital for autopsy in Nablus, West Bank on May 11, 2022. (Photo by Nedal Eshtayah/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

U.S.: Investigate Israeli Killing of Palestinian-American Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

May 11, 2022

Categories

  • Advocacy
  • Aid Conditionality
  • Anonymous Interviews
  • Anonymous Interviews Egypt
  • Anonymous Interviews Saudi Arabia
  • Anonymous Interviews UAE
  • Cases
  • Cases Egypt
  • Cases Saudi Arabia
  • Cases UAE
  • Countries
  • Culprits
  • Culprits Egypt
  • Culprits Saudi Arabia
  • Culprits UAE
  • DAWN
  • Dawn's Advocacy
  • Democracy In Exile
  • Editor's Pick
  • Egypt
  • Feature
  • Fellows
  • Foreign Policy
  • Human Rights
  • International Actors
  • Lobbyists
  • Palestine
  • Political prisoners
  • Press Release Egypt
  • Press Release Israel-Palestine
  • Press Release Saudi Arabia
  • Press Release UAE
  • Press Releases
  • Saudi Arabia
  • UAE
  • Uncategorized
  • United Nations
  • US – Egypt
  • US – Saudi Arabia
  • US – UAE
  • USA

SUPPORT OUR MISSION

Donate Today

About Us

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) is a nonprofit organization that promotes democracy, the rule of law, and human rights for all of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Support Us

Donate Now

Newsletter

Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube

© DAWN All rights reserved. | Website Design by KRS Creative.

DONATE TODAY