Libya: The Struggle for Survival


Book Description

This book charts in detail the West's response, particularly that of the US, to Libya's possible involvement in the bombing of the Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie in 1988. It suggests that this response cannot be fully understood without consideration of the United States as sole military superpower in the New World Order. Geoff Simons argues that the US decision to target Libya, and to involve the UN in this policy, has more to do with the realpolitik objectives of a hegemonic power than with the disinterested use of international law to combat terrorism. The Lockerbie issue is set against a detailed history of Libya from the earliest times to the present, with emphasis on Libya's colonial past, the pivotal significance of Libya's oil resources, the character of the Gaddafi revolution, and the consequent impact on relations with the United States.




The Libyan Revolution and Its Aftermath


Book Description

This book offers a novel, incisive and wide-ranging account of Libya's '17 February Revolution' by tracing how critical towns, communities and political groups helped to shape its course. Each community, whether geographical (e.g. Misrata, Zintan), tribal/communal (e.g. Beni Walid) or political (e.g. the Muslim Brotherhood) took its own path into the uprisings and subsequent conflict of 2011, according to their own histories and relationship to Muammar Qadhafi's regime. The story of each group is told by the authors, based on reportage and expert analysis, from the outbreak of protests in Benghazi in February 2011 through to the transitional period following the end of fighting in October 2011. They describe the emergence of Libya's new politics through the unique stories of those who made it happen, or those who fought against it. The Libyan Revolution and its Aftermath brings together leading journalists, academics, and specialists, each with extensive field experience amidst the constituencies they depict, drawing on interviews with fighters, politicians and civil society leaders who have contributed their own account of events to this volume.




Qaddafi and the Libyan Revolution


Book Description

Politieke biografie van de Libische leider (geb. ca. 1942)




Hegemony or Survival


Book Description

From the world's foremost intellectual activist, an irrefutable analysis of America's pursuit of total domination and the catastrophic consequences that are sure to follow The United States is in the process of staking out not just the globe but the last unarmed spot in our neighborhood-the heavens-as a militarized sphere of influence. Our earth and its skies are, for the Bush administration, the final frontiers of imperial control. In Hegemony or Survival , Noam Chomsky investigates how we came to this moment, what kind of peril we find ourselves in, and why our rulers are willing to jeopardize the future of our species. With the striking logic that is his trademark, Chomsky dissects America's quest for global supremacy, tracking the U.S. government's aggressive pursuit of policies intended to achieve "full spectrum dominance" at any cost. He lays out vividly how the various strands of policy-the militarization of space, the ballistic-missile defense program, unilateralism, the dismantling of international agreements, and the response to the Iraqi crisis-cohere in a drive for hegemony that ultimately threatens our survival. In our era, he argues, empire is a recipe for an earthly wasteland. Lucid, rigorous, and thoroughly documented, Hegemony or Survival promises to be Chomsky's most urgent and sweeping work in years, certain to spark widespread debate.




Understanding Libya Since Gaddafi


Book Description

Why has Libya fallen apart since 2011? The world has largely given up trying to understand how the revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi has left the country a failed state and a major security headache for Europe. Gaddafi's police state has been replaced by yet another dictatorship, amidst a complex conflict of myriad armed groups, Islamists, tribes, towns and secularists. What happened? One of few foreign journalists to have lived in post-revolution Tripoli, Ulf Laessing has unique insight into the violent nature of post-Gaddafi politics. Confronting threats from media-hostile militias and jihadi kidnappings, in a world where diplomats retreat to their compounds and guns are drawn at government press conferences, Laessing has kept his ear to the ground and won the trust of many key players. Understanding Libya Since Gaddafi is an original blend of personal anecdote and nuanced Libyan history. It offers a much-needed diagnosis of why war has erupted over a desert nation of just 6 million, and of how the country blessed with Africa's greatest energy reserves has been reduced to state collapse.




Libya in Western Foreign Policies, 1911–2011


Book Description

Libya has a short, volatile history. Foreigners played a significant role in shaping Libya’s institutions and policies, and this book explores longer term trends in the relations between Libya and the West, placing current developments in their historical context. Throughout history, the globe’s most powerful actors have regarded Libya as an outlier state of little significance. Libya belonged neither here nor there and never fell under the full protection of any significant global or regional powerhouse. Libya’s weak national identity, its weak institutions and its peripheral position have made it vulnerable to external influences and interventions. As a result, Libya repeatedly falls prey to foreign powers wanting to flex their muscles. As this book narrates, this was the case in 1911, in 2011 and several times in between.




The Palgrave Handbook of Gender, Media and Communication in the Middle East and North Africa


Book Description

The Palgrave Handbook of Gender, Media and Communication in the Middle East and North Africa stands as an authoritative and up-to-date resource on the critical debates, research methods and ongoing reflections on how gender and communication intersect with the economic, social, political, and cultural fabrics of the countries in the MENA region. The Handbook comprises thirty-one chapters written by both established and rising scholars of gender, media, and digital technologies, and will rely on fresh data which seeks to capture the dynamic and complex realities of MENA societies, as well as the tensions and contradictions in the politics of gender and uses of communication technologies. The Handbook is split into six sections: Gender, Identities and Sexualities; The Gender of Politics; Gender and Activism; Gender-Based Violence; Gender and Entrepreneurship; and Gender in Expressive Cultures.




Historical Dictionary of Libya


Book Description

Of all the countries in North Africa and the Middle East, less has been known about Libya for decades. Only recently have we begun to appreciate the complexity of Libya’s turbulent past, including the revolution in 2011 in which demands for better living conditions and more job opportunities led to widespread protests. When the Muammar al-Qaddafi regime responded with force to these peaceful protests, killing scores of unarmed civilians, the protesters called for regime change. In what came to be known as the February 17 Revolution, the 42-year-old Qaddafi regime was overthrown, and Qaddafi was killed in October 2011. Over the next decade, Libya endured a series of interim, transitional governments in a prolonged struggle to draft a new constitution and to elect a democratic national government. Historical Dictionary of Libya, Sixth Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities as well as aspects of the country’s politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Libya.




Libya and the United States, Two Centuries of Strife


Book Description

"This is a wonderfully measured, insightful, comprehensive treatment of the subject that will, in my estimation, become a standard not only for the academic community but also for the policy and intelligence community."—Dirk Vandewalle, Dartmouth College