Libyan Regime Research Articles

From Humanitarian Intervention to Regime Change in Libya: Human Agency in the Production and Transformation of Global Security Assemblages

The paper examines human agency in the production and transformation of global security assemblages. A situated conception of human agency is elaborated theoretically through the reincorporation of key concepts from Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s original oeuvre, such as ‘bodies’ ‘desire’ and ‘affect’. Through this Deleuzoguattarian assemblage framework it becomes possible to distinguish between human/non-human and active/reactive forms of agency, while not losing sight of how human actions invariably take place within broader structures of signification. To showcase the utility and analytical potential of this approach, the paper returns to a paradigmatic case of global security cooperation in recent times: the military intervention in Libya of 2011. Through the assemblage framework advocated it is illustrated how the agency of the governments of the United Kingdom, France and the United States is crucial for making connections with other bodies in the production of a Libyan humanitarian intervention assemblage, and later bringing about its transformation into a Libyan regime change assemblage. More than this, it becomes possible to grasp how in fact both these processes form part of a single Western-led biopolitical-geopolitical strategy. The paper concludes by emphasising the political and ethical significance of an appreciation of human agency in global security assemblages. De l’intervention humanitaire au renversement du régime en Libye : l’agentivité humaine dans la production et la transformation des agencements de la sécurité mondiale

Mapping the Dynamics of Subregional Order: Challenges and Prospects in the Maghreb Region after 2011 Arab Spring

This article examines the security challenges facing the Maghreb region as a subregional system of the Middle East since the Arab Spring. The analysis concentrates on the period after the fall of the Libyan regime, which resulted in the decline of security in Libya, internal conflicts in Mali, and rising security instability in the Sahel region due to the return of Tuareg fighters to their Malian homeland. The article explores the political and economic dynamics in the Maghreb through an analysis of power distribution utilizing the regional security complex theory (RSCT). This examination highlights how these dynamics influence rivalry or cooperation, and the repercussions of missing systems that prompt the restructuring of the subregional order. The relevant information was systematically collected and analyzed via a data collection method which facilitated a thorough investigation of the intricate dynamics of the area, resulting in a better comprehension of the elements that mold its geopolitical environment.

Implementing the Concept of the Responsibility to Protect in Libya

After the protests that broke out in Libya in February 2011, the Security Council and other UN bodies relied on the concept of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to address the humanitarian situation resulting from those protests. The Council issued Resolution 1970, which imposed a package of sanctions on Libya, and then issued Resolution 1973, which allowed military intervention there. Shortly after starting to implement the military campaign, it became clear that NATO exploited these decisions to implement its own agenda and worked to overthrow the Libyan regime. Further, its military operations caused the killing and wounding of many civilians, as well as the destruction of civilian and other objects. This experience distorted the concept of the responsibility to protect, deepened discussions about it and produced what is known as the Brazilian initiative “Responsibility to Protect” (RWP) and the Chinese version “Responsible Protection” (RP) as an attempt to overcome the negatives resulting from the implementation of (R2P) in Libya.

The Aesthetic of an Orphaned Memory: Journeying Across the ‘Lit-Up Stage’ of Hisham Matar's Siena

ABSTRACT This article discusses Hisham Matar's second work of memoir, A Month in Siena in terms of its complex, longer engagement with the disappearance of Matar's dissident father, its aftermath, and the son's own relation to his father's ultimate fate. Attempting to articulate what may be an unrealisable form of grief, Matar seeks to elicit from the spaces of the medieval Sienese Republic an aesthetic grammar by means of which the process of surviving with(in) a forcibly suspended relation with his absent forebear may be spelt out. Matar's memoir mobilises the ability of memory to interpellate the act of self-narrative in the service of achieving a mourning-in-progress. Referencing the work of Massimo Cacciari, T.J. Clark, Mark Dooley, John Baldacchino and Philippe D’Averio, the author discusses Matar's contemplations of works from the Sienese School, including those of Ambrogio Lorenzetti and Duccio di Buoninsegna. The article opens up Matar's ekphrastic journey, suggesting that through it, art holds forth a configuration of power that is expansive in character: one whose semantic vista is as affirmative in its potential for articulating a complex, often damaged political world as the Libyan regime's own silence about his father is negatingly labyrinthine.

السياسة الخارجية الفرنسية تجاه الازمة الليبية

After the fall of Gaddafi, France sought to direct its foreign policy towards Libya through a set of tools, including the political and diplomatic tool, the military tool and the economic tool as a means to secure its influence and interests under the new Libyan regime. Keywords: The Libyan crisis, France, Libya.

THE ROLE OF EXTERNAL PARTIES IN INFLUENCING THE CONFLICT IN LIBYA

Some countries and international organizations took advantage of the events that occurred in many Arab countries, or the so-called Arab Spring, to bring down the dictatorial regime, including what happened in the Libyan state, where the Libyan regime suppressed the popular uprising demanding change, and the transition to a democratic system establishes social justice and protects freedom and human rights. This gave the justification for these countries to intervene as a third party in the crisis, which complicated the crisis and made the events take a violent turn that ultimately led to the collapse of the state and the fall of Muammar Gaddafis regime, with the help of foreign countries for the uprising through international decisions that led to the military intervention. This resulted in a civil war raging between the Libyan parties with external funding, and the inability of the internationally recognized government to play its role within the borders of the Libyan state. We seek here to find out the role that these parties played in the Libyan state and its impact on the course of events and the existing conflict.

The ICC and R2P: Complementary or Contradictory?

ABSTRACT The ICC and R2P share the goal of ending atrocity crimes. Nonetheless, they operate quite differently. Recently, there has been increasing support for bringing the ICC within the R2P toolkits, hoping they will complement each other to achieve their shared goal. The Security Council put this idea into practice to deal with the 2011 crisis in Libya. However, the invocation of ICC against the backdrop of an evolving military intervention under the R2P mandate highlighted significant risks to its integrity and legitimacy. This paper argues that the invocation of ICC to constrain violence and to hold accountable the Libyan regime for atrocity crimes eventually resulted in legitimizing military intervention and regime change under the R2P mandate. The Libya case suggests that neither the push for complementarity nor a full separation between the ICC and R2P benefits the ICC. There needs to be a balance between full engagement and separation. Such an alternative rests on the ICC avoiding entanglement with R2P’s military mandate, while maintaining close interaction with its non-military components through the Security Council. Lastly, the paper also points to areas in which the Council could play a more constructive role in cementing greater cooperation between R2P and the ICC.

Rhetorical adaptation, normative resistance and international order-making: China’s advancement of the responsibility to protect

How do rising powers execute normative resistance to shape international order? Contrary to the existing literature, I argue that rising powers are productive agents of normative change and international order-making, through the use of rhetorical adaptation to contest pre-existing orders. Rhetorical adaptation is a strategy and set of tactics that simultaneously modifies norm content, while reducing critiques of obstructionism. To make this argument, this article traces China’s efforts as a ‘norm shaper’ regarding the responsibility to protect through the inception, institutionalization and implementation of the norm in the landmark 2011 Libya intervention. China layers traditional sovereignty norms under the responsibility to protect, focusing and narrowing the emerging norm by fortifying the primacy of the state. While I show how China resists co-option into an evolving ontological order that challenges traditional sovereignty, the article also addresses the unforeseen consequences of China’s normative efforts that ‘backfired’ to permit the use of the responsibility to protect to justify Libyan regime change. More broadly, this article speaks to rising powers as agents crafting international order, and the process of normative resistance that occurs throughout the norm life cycle. I draw from publicly available documents and semi-structured interviews with Chinese foreign policy and United Nations elites.

Responsabilidad de proteger (los intereses): el caso de la intervención de la OTAN en Libia

El régimen libio fue intervenido en el 2011 por la OTAN, luego de haber sido acusado de estar preparando una “masacre” contra su propia población. Esa intervención, liderada por Francia y Estados Unidos, se hizo en nombre de la responsabilidad de proteger, de acuerdo con un mandato de la ONU que instaba a sus miembros a usar “todos los medios necesarios” para evitar “ataques generalizados y sistemáticos contra la población civil”. ¿Estuvo en realidad esa intervención impulsada por valores morales y la responsabilidad de proteger a la población libia? El propósito de este artículo es demostrar que la intervención de la OTAN se asemeja a una clásica operación de “cambio de régimen” mediada por consideraciones “materiales” y que poco tuvo que ver con consideraciones humanitarias. La intervención de la OTAN, asimismo, desestructuraría las propuestas para implementar un cambio pacífico, arrasando consigo a centenares de miles de personas, convirtiendo a Libia en un Estado fallido y provocando la aparición de múltiples facciones armadas islamistas

Why Was Muammar Qadhafi Really Removed?

After situating the post-2011 Libyan conflict in its proper historical context and identifying the patterns behind the numerous earlier attempts to remove Qadhafi from power, this article then draws heavily on extensive, accessible new evidence to demonstrate how the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’ phenomenon was soon manipulated by external actors so as to provide diplomatic cover for the calculated dismantling of a Libyan regime that had remained largely resistant to the opening up of its economy to Western investment and could still count on a significant domestic support base. Furthermore, it is shown that by this stage the Libyan regime had not only failed to establish itself as a reliable partner in the US’ long-running ‘War on Terror’, but had actually emerged as one of the strongest voices opposing the expansion of NATO and US military power onto the African continent. Within this evidence-based framework, the article also reveals how the Western powers’ regime change agenda in Libya in 2011 was to a great extent shielded from public scrutiny, with some of the most significant and visible roles being assigned to key regional Arab allies. In this sense, mindful of the ongoing domestic backlash to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and wary of further international criticism of their Middle East policies, the Western powers this time made sure to orchestrate better a web of compliant Arab proxies that could effectively provide most of the financing and on-the-ground logistical and intelligence support for those Libyans that were willing to oppose the regime, even if they were in a minority, and even if their ‘Arab Spring’ or ‘pro-democracy’ credentials were difficult to verify.

The Responsibility to Protect and the Use of Force: An Assessment of the Just Cause and Last Resort Criteria in the Case of Libya

ABSTRACTThere is a widespread assumption that, given the imminent threat of mass atrocities against the Libyan civilians – especially in Benghazi – and in the absence of non-military alternatives, military action against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi was a justified and necessary response. This paper challenges this widespread assumption. It argues that on the eve of NATO-led military intervention, there was no ‘clear evidence’ to suggest that the Libyan regime was on the verge of committing mass atrocities against civilians. This research also documents the range of political and diplomatic options open to the international community to engage with Gaddafi, all of which were sidetracked in favour of military action. Despite the brutality of Gaddafi’s rule, military intervention in Libya did not meet the Responsibility to Protect’s (R2P) ‘just cause’ and ‘last resort’ criteria. Far from being a successful application of R2P’s most coercive pillar, the Libyan case was a manifest misapplication of R2P's military component. An objective analysis of the Libyan crisis during February and March 2011 should have prevented the use of military force.

التدخل الدولی الإنسانی فی لیبیا دوافعه ومبرراته وتجاوزاته وانعکاس ذلک على السیادة اللیبیة

الملخص: تعتبر الثورة الليبية التي تحولت باتجاه المواجهة العسکرية بين النظام الليبي والمحتجين، مع دخول أطراف دولية وإقليمية بذريعة صدور قرارات عن مجلس الأمن الدولي لحماية حقوق الإنسان من الانتهاکات الجسيمة على يد النظام الليبي، إحدى محطات أثارة الجدال حول مفهوم التدخل الدولي الانساني وسيادة الدول، وکذلک المفهوم المستحدث للتدخل وهو مفهوم (مسؤولية الحماية)، وما جرى علي الساحة الليبية، من حيت أسباب ودوافع التدخل والمتعلق بليبيا ونظامها، ليتضح جليا مبرر التدخل الدولي، من خلال العديد من التجاوزات التي ترکت أثارها على السيادة الليبية. Abstract: The Libyan revolution, which turned into a military confrontation between the Libyan regime and the protesters, Where international and regional parties entered under the pretext of the UN Security Council resolution to protect human rights from serious violations by the Libyan regime, is one of the stations of debate a bout the concept of international humanitarian intervention and the sovereignty of states, As well as the concept of intervention, which is the concept of responsibility of protection, and what happened on the Libyan arena, In terms of the causes and motives of the intervention related to Libya and its regime It's clear that the international intervention is justified by many abuses that have left their marks on Libyan sovereignty.

Broadening the Contestation of Norms in International Relations

Broadening the Contestation of Norms in International Relations

THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AND THE CASES OF MUAMMAR AL-GADDAFI, SAIF AL-ISLAM GADDAFI AND ABDULLAH AL-SENUSSI

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the international organization created through the Rome Statute in order to judge the main international cases of crimes that are under its jurisdiction. Even tough is an in independent organization and therefore not a part of the United Nations (UN) system, it is strictly related to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), who has addressed the situation in Libya to the Court in 2011 through the Resolution 1970. From that moment on, the ICC analyzed the cases of Muammar Al-Gaddafi, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah Al-Senussi, who were high authorities in the previous Libyan regime. Therefore, this article aims to demonstrate the context of creation of the International Criminal Court and the forces involved on it as well as the situation in Libya and how the judgment of its formers leaders were related to the ICC. The focus is to highlight the importance of the Court and to analyze its capability of fulfilling its objectives in nowadays-international system specifically in the observance of the cases in study.

Краткий анализ причин крушения ливийского режима М. Каддафи в контексте исторического развития Ливии

Краткий анализ причин крушения ливийского режима М. Каддафи в контексте исторического развития Ливии

تدخل حلف الاطلنطى فى لیبیا : الدوافع والاهداف

جاء تحرک حلف شمال الأطلنطى السريع نجاه الأزمة الليبية والتى أعقبت احتجاجات 17 فبراير 2011 ضد نظام القذافى ، وعلى الرغم من وجود العديد من المبررات التى بررت تدخل الحلف فى ليبيا کوجود قرار من مجلس الأمن يقضى بالتدخل لحماية المدنيين فى ليبيا ، وکذلک وجود طلب غطاء عربى ومحلى يطالب بالتدخل ، جاء تحرک حلف شمال الأطلنطى السريع نجاه الأزمة الليبية والتى أعقبت احتجاجات 17 فبراير 2011 ضد نظام القذافى ، وعلى الرغم من وجود العديد من المبررات التى بررت تدخل الحلف فى ليبيا کوجود قرار من مجلس الأمن يقضى بالتدخل لحماية المدنيين فى ليبيا ، وکذلک وجود طلب غطاء عربى ومحلى يطالب بالتدخل ، إلا أن هناک العديد من العومانل والدوافع التى تحرک سياسات دول الحلف وحماية مصالحها ، وتتمثل هذه المصالح فى موارد ليبيا النفطية ، وموقعها الجغرافى الاستراتيجى بالنسبة لجنوب أوروبا . کما أن اهداف عمليات الحلف العسکرية لم تقتصر على ما هو منصوص عليه فى قرار مجلس الأمن ، بل تعداه الى أهداف أخرى متمثلة فى اسقاط النظام الليبى . The fast movement of the North Atlantic Alliance towards the Libyan crisis which followed the 17th of February Year 2011 protests against Colonel Al-Kaddafi regime came despite the presence of many justifications which justified the interference of the alliance in Libya such as the existence of the Security Council Resolution which necessitates the alliance interference to protect the citizens in Libya. This is in addition to the existence of a request of Arab and local cover which request the intervention; but there are many factors and motives which moves the policies of the alliance countries and protecting their interests. These interests are represented in the Libyan petroleum resources and its strategic geographical location relative to South Europe. Also, the objectives of the military alliance operations were not limited to what is stated in the Security Council Resolution but exceeded it to other objectives which took the form of the collapse of the Libyan Regime.

Libya, the Tuareg and Mali on the eve of the ‘Arab Spring’ and in its aftermath: an anatomy of changed relations

This study examines the relatively unknown issue of the ethno-political and strategic partnership that existed between the Libyan regime of Muammar al-Qaddafi and the ethnic Tuareg minority of Sahelian origin, with an emphasis on the period during 1990–2011. Approaching this issue through political history and political science frameworks, this study addresses contemporary issues such as African migration, transnational identities, political mobilisation, Sahel–Maghreb relations, Islamist terror and new regional security structures, as well as the place of ethnic and racial minorities within political life and society. The ramifications of the ‘Arab Spring’ and the subsequent fall of Qaddafi's regime put an end to the unique partnership. Many Tuareg fled the chaos of post-Qaddafi Libya and returned to their native countries, disrupting the sensitive ethnic and political balances in the Sahel belt.

The Roots and Causes of the 2011 Arab Uprisings

This research article attempts to scrutinize the nature and causes of the Arab uprisings which took people by surprise globally throughout 2011 and into 2012. The article argues that the repressive, violent nature of the Arab regimes and their suppression of individual liberties against a backdrop of ongoing corruption and deterioration of the economy have been among the major factors leading to the Arab revolts. In addition, the article attempts to answer the query: why were the two repressive regimes of Tunisia and Egypt so quick to come undone, whereas dismantling the Libyan regime took much longer? Finally, the article tries to develop a causation analysis as to why the Arab regimes of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, and Sudan have not faced major political protest.

Nicolas Sarkozy's Africa policy: Change, continuity or confusion?

Three years after inviting Colonel Ghadafi on a state visit, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was spearheading NATO's campaign against the Libyan regime. This dramatic volte face pointed to a new approach to North Africa, while also highlighting the immobility of French policy towards black Africa. Before being elected, Sarkozy had promised to break with Francafrique. But did he deliver? This article does not confine itself to the usual debate about rupture/continuity but also assesses the extent to which Sarkozy's Africa policy was marked by uncertainty, inconsistency and confusion. It looks for evidence of rupture, continuity and confusion during the Sarkozy era. It then identifies the factors driving and constraining change, as well as the causes of policy incoherence. It ends by exploring the wider implications of this case and identifying future policy directions.

THE AFRICAN UNION, RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT AND THE LIBYAN CRISIS

The question whether external actors have a right of intervention within a sovereign state which is committing grave violations of human rights assumed par ticular significance in the case of the civil conflict that began in Libya in February 2011. Within the international response to the Libyan regime’s attacks on its population, the Arab League, the United Nations and NATO favoured the use of military force, whereas the African Union favoured a political solution to the crisis. This article considers the question of African Union intervention within the framework of the concept of ‘responsibility to protect’. It argues that the reason why the African Union did not act militarily in Libya was that it lacks the will to confront incumbent leaders, something which undermines the organization’s ability to provide effective solutions to African crises.