LIBYAN CIVIL WAR AND INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION IN 2011 - ATTITUDES OF THE PEOPLE OF LIBYA AND THE WEST

Abstract

The outbreak of the civil war in Libya was part of the ‘Arab Spring’: a series of instances of Arab societies against non-democratic authorities of their countries. From the per-spective of the West, it is another conflict after the Cold War era, one in which there are no two conventional armies fighting against each other, but its start is ‘asymmetric’. The Gaddafi regime's bloody crackdown on insurgents made the international community stand in the defence of the civilian population. At the same time, with the experience of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there was reluctance to deploy western troops in Libya. It was clearly shown in the public opinion polls: Gaddafi was being condemned and Libyan civilians were being supported, but it was refused to expose the West to military losses. Libyan rebels also demanded more armament rather than reinforcing their forces with foreign army units. Therefore, the intervention of Western countries in Libya took the form acceptable to the public: air attacks on the forces loyal to Gaddafi.