A History of Modern Libya

by Vandewalle, Dirk

• ISBN13: 9781107615748
• ISBN10: 1107615747
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-23
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Dirk Vandewalle is one of only a handful of scholars to have frequently visited Libya over the last four decades. Here he tracks Libya's story from the 1900s to the Italian occupation in the early twentieth century, through the Sanusi monarchy and, thereafter, to the revolution of 1969 and the accession of Qadhafi. Chapters analyse the economics and politics of Qadhafi's revolution, offering insights into the man and his ideology as reflected in his Green Book. This updated edition includes coverage of the period 2003–2011, as Libya finally came in from the cold after years of political and economic isolation. The agreement to give up a weapons of mass destruction program paved the way for improved relations with the West. By this time, though, Qadhafi had lost support at home and, despite attempts to liberalize the economy, real structural reform proved impossible. This, coupled with tribal rivalries, regional division and a general lack of unity, paved the way for revolution and civil war.

Author Biography

Dirk Vandewalle is Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College. His publications include Libya since Independence: Oil and State-Building (1998) and, as editor, Libya since 1980: Qadhafi's Revolution Revisited (2011).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
List of Maps	p. viii
Preface to the Second Edition	p. ix
Preface to the First Edition	p. xiii
Chronology, ipoo-2011	p. xvii
List of Acronyms	p. xxxvi
Introduction: Libya, the enigmatic oil state	p. 1
"A tract which is wholly sand …"Herodotus	p. 11
Libya's geography	p. 14
The Ottoman period and the Sanusiyya	p. 16
European intrusions and the Young Turk revolt	p. 20
The Ottoman legacy	p. 22
Italy's Fourth Shore and decolonization, 1911-1950	p. 24
The Italian occupation, 1911-192.3	p. 24
Fascism and the Italian settler colony	p. 30
World War II, Italy's defeat, and the Great Power deliberations	p. 34
Legacies at the eve of independence	p. 40
The Sanusi monarchy as accidental state, 1951-1969	p. 43
Politics of avoidance: the reluctant monarchy	p. 45
The development challenges of the first decade	p. 50
The Libyan oil industry	p. 53
The unification of the kingdom	p. 61
The social impact of oil and the early seeds of revolution	p. 68
The monarchy in perspective	p. 72.
A Libyan sandstorm: from monarchy to republic, 19 69-1973	p. 76
Libya's young revolutionaries	p. 78
Popular revolution, participation, and legitimacy	p. 82
Charisma and rhetoric as mobilizational tools	p. 85
Oil and economic management	p. 88
The revolution on the eve of the 1973 oil crisis	p. 93
The Green Book's stateless society, 1973-1986	p. 96
Revolutionaries, technocrats, and "The Green Book" as political primer	p. 99
"The Green Book's" economic and social directives	p. 104
Oil and development	p. 108
The revolutionary society	p. 117
Symbols, myths, Islam, and opposition	p. 122
Terrorism, adventurism, and confrontation with the West	p. 128
The revolutionary decade revisited	p. 133
The limits of the revolution, 1986-2000	p. 137
Curtailing revolutionary energy	p. 139
"The Great Green Charter of Human Rights"	p. 142
Protecting the regime: formal and informal means of power and control	p. 143
The economic sanctions and their impact	p. 150
Economic sanctions and oil policies	p. 156
Attempts at economic reform	p. 159
The lessons of failed reforms	p. 163
Confrontation, terrorism, and sanctions	p. 166
The revolution curtailed	p. 170
Reconciliation, civil war, and fin de régime, 2003-2011	p. 173
The road to disarmament	p. 177
Pragmatism, economic reform, and political reality	p. 182
From Arab socialism to pan-African unity	p. 194
The delusions of Qadhafi and of the West	p. 198
The uprising in Cyrenaica and the civil war	p. 203
Epilogue: Whither Libya?	p. 210
Notes	p. 215
Bibliography	p. 227
Index	p. 237
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