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Arab Spring-Libya

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Arab Spring-Libya

Introduction

The Arab Spring is also referred to as the Arab Revolutions; these were a series of non-

violent and violent demonstrations, riots, protests, foreign interventions, political and armed

coups and civil wars that took place in the Middle East and North Africa. The series of Arab

Spring or revolutions began in Tunisia in 18

December 2010. The first series of the Arab revolt

was known as the Tunisian Revolution, the effects that were experienced in the other Arabian

countries. For instance, the Tunisian Revolution had an impact on countries such as Libya,

Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain and Syria (Anderson, 2011). The impact led to uprisings in the different

countries, the results of such revolutions were toppling of regimes, social violence, other effects

were riots that could turn violent, insurgencies and civil wars. There were sustained protests on

the streets in countries such as Iraq, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, and Sudan.

One of the countries that were affected by the Arab revolution was Libya. The revolution

that took place in Libya has been referred using different phrases, for instance, the revolution has

been referred to as the Libyan Civil War, the Libyan Revolution, and the 17 February

Revolution. In Libya, the revolution was violent, and it involved the fighting of forces that were

loyal to the leader of the country at the time, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those who wanted

to topple his regime. The armed conflict in the country began in the year 2011. However, there

were some conflicts in the country that had preceded this revolution. There were protests in

Zawiya in 2009 through which protestors wanted to oust the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi. It

is the Zawiya protests that fanned the demonstrations that led to the toppling of the leader

Muammar Gaddafi in the year 2011. According to the studies that have been conducted, it can be

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noted that the Arab revolution had an adverse impact on the development of Libya, the

leadership and the political development of the country.

The protests that were being experienced in the country led to the security forces clashing

with the protestors. In one incident, there were media reports that the security forces were forced

to fire at a crowd that was protesting. It is because of such confrontations that the protests turned

into a rebellion that led to the ouster of the leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. In this paper, we

will discuss the consequences that the Arab revolution had on the North African country of

Libya. The research questions that will be addressed in this paper include; What were the reasons

of the Arab Spring in Libya? And, how did the Arab Spring impact the lives of the people living

in Libya?

Context:

More researchers have been steadily doing research into the Arab Spring. Although most

of the research that has been conducted is inclusive of all the countries that experienced the wave

of change, in this study, we will only focus on the studies that have been conducted about Libya.

Prashad in their research believed that one of the most crucial contributors in the ouster

of Muammar Gaddafi was the fact that most people in the country believed that he was a

tyrannical leader who had personalized the country. Many people, including the citizens of

Libya, believed that Muammar Gaddafi was a tyrant and an erratic dictator (Prashad, 2012). The

Libya Revolution that led to the ousting of the Gaddafi’s regime began in the eastern part of the

Benghazi city before it spread throughout the country. According to Chorin, it was not only the

citizens of the country that led the revolution, many Arabian states and western countries

supported the uprising in the country (Chorin ,2012). Chorin particularly states that the United

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states played a major role in the uprising. The nations that notably endorsed the rebellion

included the United Kingdom, the United States of America and France.

St John states that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi had been assisted with other mid-level

officers to overthrow the government of King Idris in the year 1969 (St John, 2017). Ever since,

until his ouster in 2011, Gaddafi had ruled the country in a modernized way. The style of

leadership that he applied in governing the country was mostly borrowed from the unitary

government system that is used in many western nations. However, he did not manage to use the

system fully; the plan to implement a centralized form of government was not adequately put in

practice till the fall of his leadership, it only remained a work in progress (St John, 2017). The

modern state of Libya was formed after the second world war, and it was put under the United

Nations watch.

According to a study that was conducted by Lacher, Libya was created after the second

world war was comprised of three provinces, these are the provinces that form Libya. They

include; Tripolitania, this is found in the western part of the country, the Cyrenaica which forms

the part of the west of the nation and Fezzan which is located in the southern part of the country

(Lacher, 2011). The Fezzan part is a desert area, and the Tubu and the Tuareg tribes inhabit it.

The rulers of the country since the time of independence had worked hard to ensure that they

held the country together, they even used dictatorial terms to ensure that the country was kept

together and that there was no any form of division in the country. The fall of the Muammar

Gaddafi spelled doom for the country that had been entirely fragile and held together by its

leaders. The fall of the regime also exposed some of the gaps that existed in the expectations that

the citizens of the country had regarding the rule of the various political constituencies that

existed in the country (Lacher, 2011). The regime of Gaddafi had lived for more than 42 years;

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the rules of the state were made in a highly personalized manner. The mechanisms that were

developed by the leaders to solve the problems that the country faced were not efficient in any

way, the ways that were used to resolve conflicts were sometimes non-existent and weak.

Because of this, even the rebels who were fighting to oust the regime began to compete against

each other making the situation to worsen for the leadership of the country.

Cole and McQuinn study shows that the politics of Libya thrives on factions and regional

abilities, this means that the politicians in most cases form coalitions and regional alliances so

that they can achieve success in the country’s political fields. Similarly, during the Arab Spring,

there were successful coalitions that were built by different factions in the country which worked

towards ensuring that the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was ousted (Cole & McQuinn,

2015). The negative coalitions that were formed during this time successfully mobilized people

in the country to rise against the leadership of that time. An example of a coalition that was

formed during this time to work towards the ouster of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is that of the

Berber Militias who fought in the western part of the country; they joined the Benghazi based

militias who fought on the eastern part of the nation (Cole & McQuinn, 2015). The rebels also

had the support from other western countries and Arabian states which made it easy for them to

operate and oust the regime of Gaddafi that had ruled for long.

However, through the research that was conducted by Goldstone, it can be noted that the

faction that won in the Libyan war failed to translate the success that it had achieved into the

required post-Gaddafi regime strong government coalition (Goldstone, 2011). For instance, the

members of the alliance that had won were unable to agree on the political action that they could

use to govern the country and how the different government structures were to be managed.

Because of such conflicts, there were infightings between different state corporations and

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parastatals which made it difficult for the government to run its agenda, unify the country and

adapt to life after the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The members of the coalition failed

to agree on which person they should have appointed to the senior members of the state. Because

of this, the militias that had formed alliances to oust Gaddafi disintegrated and made the system

of governance in the country to fail.

The failure of the coalition members to agree on the way to govern the government made

it difficult for the country to move forward. The militias who were not happy about the way the

government was being run, realigned themselves and began a civil war. The civil war was

between the Islamist army and the government that was based in Tripoli (Goldstone, 2011). The

Tripoli government was recognized by the parliament of the country and by other international

bodies. The chaos that resulted as a result of the civil war made it possible for other insurgent

groups such as the Islamic State to gain a foothold in some parts of the country.

Approach:

In this article, we seek to find the real consequences of the Arab Spring in Libya. To

expose the results, there is need to ensure that we understand the real causes of the Libyan

revolution and also the factors that surrounded the revolution. We need to take a look into

different discussions and studies that have been conducted in the recent past to ensure that we

understand the Arab Spring better and also understand the way the revolution affected the lives

of the people in the country (Howard & Hussain, 2013).

We also need to understand the definition of terms that are involved in the Arab Spring

and the main characters that were involved in the revolution.

Discussion:

Causes of Arab Spring in Libya

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The Arab Spring in Libya was meant to ensure that the long despotic leaders of the

country. The leadership of the country was comprised of authoritarian rulers who oppressed the

citizens of the country, there were also other issues that led to the uprising such as the powerful

interior ministry and the police force which were used to suppress any form of ideas that could

be brought forward by those people who were seen to be against the government. The high levels

of inflation, the poverty levels and high levels of unemployment (Garwood-Gowers, 2013). The

social media played a significant role in ensuring that the rest of the world knew what was

happening in the Arabian states. All the states within the Arabian world were affected by the

impacts of the uprising; people were determined to pull down the despotic regimes. People

started with peaceful demonstrations. However, the regimes were determined to suppress the

rebellion. They used violent means to quell the peaceful protests which made the people turn into

violent events which caused the uprising worsen.

Among the prominent causes of the Arab Springs, economic factors were the primary

cause of the changes. During the time of the Arabian revolutions, the global economy was going

through a crisis. It should also be understood that the economic conditions of the countries in

North Africa and the Middle East are heterogeneous (Fargues & Fandrich, 2012). The countries

have different progressive levels of the economy, and they also have developed different

structures for their economic development. The countries that are oil producing have high

economic development as compared to the other countries that rely on other economic activities.

The global economic crisis meant that the countries in the Middle East and North Africa,

including Libya, was going through difficult economic times. The countries depend on

manufacturing, tourism, and oil, during the crisis, western countries, such as the United States of

America and the United Kingdom decreased the demand of the goods from the countries in the

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Arabian world (Gause III, 2011). This meant that the leaders of the countries did not have the

resources that they had to run the countries smoothly. Libya depends on oil to progress its

economic developments. The countries were also affected by the global economic crisis, because

of this, people were motivated by this to fight against the regime. Other crises such as the food

crisis and employment crisis also played a major role in the uprising of people against the

reigning regime in Libya.

There were also social causes that led to the Arab Spring in Libya. The population of the

youth in the country was growing, and most of them were educated. Because of the development

of educational systems, the youth had been educated, and most of them were not employed. The

question of democracy also made people start questioning the way their country was being

governed. The questioning led to people rising in arms against the regime. The uprising in the

country was also caused by the influence from other countries. Through social media, the

citizens of Libya learned about their freedoms, and they started the protests against the

government.

Consequences of the Arab Spring in Libya:

Following the Arabian Spring, Libya is still said to be work in progress; this is because

though they have achieved some success in their course, the country has also suffered a lot of

consequences due to the revolution of 2011. For the leadership of the country to be successful in

its endeavors, there is need to ensure that they unite the country and also share the resources of

the government equally and fairly among the citizens of the country. It is also quite difficult to

determine the consequences of the Arab Spring in Libya because the events are still unfolding

each day. Some of the consequences can be however predicted by analyzing the events that are

currently taking place.

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One of the positive consequences that were experienced in Libya was the removal of the

authoritarian rulers from power in the country. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was said to be an

authoritarian ruler and he ruled the country with an iron fist. The countries had not felt the

benefits of technology for a long time (Pearce, et al., 2011). For instance, the Colonel Muammar

Gaddafi became the president of Libya through a coup. He ruled for a long time and his rule was

autocratic. By removing such leaders, it meant that the citizens in the countries were given a new

lease of life and a chance to enjoy the democracy that they had missed for long. Through the

ousting of the leader, people were allowed to choose their leader.

The social and political rights of the people in the country was granted. Throughout the

rule of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the police and the interior ministry had a lot of powers that it

could suppress any person who could have dared to rise against the rule of Gaddafi. Since the

ousting of the leader happened, people were given theirs and freedoms to gather socially and

engage in any form of political activities.

The public political sphere was also developed. The Arab Spring in Libya allowed people

to discuss political matters in public and even talk about the efforts that the country needs to take

as they plan for the future of their country.

The uprising also impacted on the surrounding states. Through the uprising, other

Arabian states in the Middle East and North Africa to fight against their regimes which were

autocratic and tyrannical. The uprising against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi also impacted in the

Arab League and the GCC, the need to have proper leadership and also give the citizens of the

countries their chance to choose their leaders.

There were also international reactions that were caused by the Arabian uprising; the

international community believed that the uprising was a good attempt at ensuring that the

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countries achieved the democracy that they had been missing for a long time. Through the

uprising, many countries were able to form new relationships with Libya. The leadership had

been changed, and people had been given a chance to offer their contributions in matters of

economy and the leadership of the country.

However, it can be noted that even though the country enjoyed positive consequences,

there were also negative consequences, for instance, the coalitions that had been formed to oust

the leader, Gaddafi, failed to agree on the ways that they could govern the country plunging the

country into civil war.

Conclusion:

In this paper, the consequences of the Arab Spring uprising are discussed. The rebellion

was caused by a wave of change in which the people needed to change the leaders who had been

governing them for long. It can be noted that there were both positive and negative consequences

of the uprising.

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References

Anderson, L. (2011). Demystifying the Arab spring: parsing the differences between Tunisia,

Egypt, and Libya. Foreign Affairs, 2-7.

Chorin, E. (2012). Exit the Colonel: The hidden History of the Libyan revolution. PublicAffairs.

Cole, P., & McQuinn, B. (Eds.). (2015). The Libyan revolution and its aftermath. Oxford

University Press.

Fargues, P., & Fandrich, C. (2012). Migration after the Arab spring.

Garwood-Gowers, A. (2013). The responsibility to protect and the Arab Spring: Libya as the

exception, Syria as the norm. UNSWLJ, 36, 594.

Gause III, F. G. (2011). Why Middle East studies missed the Arab Spring: The myth of

aGoldstone, J. A. (2011). Cross‐class Coalitions and the Making of the Arab Revolts of

2011. Swiss Political Science Review, 17(4), 457-462.uthoritarian stability. Foreign

Affairs, 81-90.

Howard, P. N., & Hussain, M. M. (2013). Democracy's fourth wave? Digital media and the Arab

Spring. Oxford University Press on Demand.

Lacher, W. (2011). Families, tribes and cities in the Libyan revolution. Middle East Policy,

18(4), 140-154.

Lotan, G., Graeff, E., Ananny, M., Gaffney, D., & Pearce, I. (2011). The Arab Spring| the

revolutions were tweeted: Information flows during the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian

revolutions. International journal of communication, 5, 31.

Prashad, V. (2012). Arab spring, Libyan winter. AK Press.

St John, R. B. (2017). Libya in western foreign policies, 1911–2011.

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