Libya: International Relations and Political Purposes

Abstract

The coup d'etat of 1 September 1969 which deposed the monarchy and created the Libyan Arab Republic (lar) ended Libya's detachment from the Arab-Israeli conflict and marked the beginning of Libya's present vigorous participation in world affairs. Directly or indirectly, or be it by hearsay, implication, or rumour, Libya is now linked to revolutionary (and not so revolutionary) issues wherever they surface. On attaining statehood in 1951, Libya was impoverished and dependent on the United Nations, Britain, and the United States in the Cold War era of Soviet-American rivalry. In the intervening years (1951-69) the bipolar superpower world evolved towards the detente and multipolarity of the 1970s and Libya emerged in 1969 as a nation that was non-aligned, superaffluent (the world's fifth largest oil producer), and, in the words of its leaders, prepared, if necessary, to 'sacrifice our wealth but not our revolution.'1 Unlike China's self-encapsulated cultural revolution, the horizons of Libya's revolution extend with Islam's expanse around the world. Within this broad setting, the dominant force of Arab nationalism (to which Nasserism gave new impetus) frequently parallels Islam and often merges with socialism and 'Third Worldism' forces which Arab nationalism alternately strengthens or derives strength from. If population alone were the criterion, Libya, with its mere