Books
The Libyan Paradox
Luis Martinez
London, Hurst and Company, 2007
Since the early 2000s, Libya has been engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activities which ultimately led to the lifting of UN sanctions (2003). After settling past contentions, most notably the Lockerbie affair, and voluntarily renouncing its WMD programme, either by opening up the economy, releasing the Bulgarian and Palestinian medics or posing as a peace broker for Darfur, the regime has long been committed to shaping a new -if somewhat uncertain- identity. The January 2008 rotating Presidency of the Security Council represents for the country an important signpost on the road to international rehabilitation
Martinez’s informed study is seminal to understanding the inner workings of the Jamahiriya, an unexpectedly versatile system which has proven particularly firm in the face of internal and external upheaval for over 30 years. The author highlights how Libya’s quest for reintegration had in fact started in the late 90s, after years of sanctions and dire isolation had badly affected both the economy and society. The book traces how the regime survived an explosive mix of poverty, corruption, coercion and institutional stalemate which weighed down on a disheartened population and played a role in arming a virulent Islamic opposition.
Martinez underlines how Libya’s conversion from long-standing ‘rogue state’ into a US ally in its War on Terror was essentially prompted by strategic and security considerations brought about by the military consequences of the 11th of September and the shockingly-fast fall of Saddam; most recently, by al-Qaeda’s direct threats to North-African regimes. Paramount to channeling the country in the new direction was a fresh generation of Libyans, strong supporters of globalization in an environment founded on revolutionary and anti-imperialist ideals; most prominent among them Seif al-Gheddafi, the Colonel’s most trusted envoy to the West and privileged interpreter of Libya’s diplomatic ‘nouvelle vague’.
Yet despite Seif’s frequent calls for greater freedoms, Martinez analyses the prospects of real democracy against the backdrop of a rentier economy and state, where economic liberalization does not imply political liberalization and where oil and hydrocarbon revenues guarantee the smooth functioning of security institutions and repressive apparatuses. Libya’s new course in foreign affairs does not affect domestic power structures, dominated by tribe and family ties. On the other hand, what shapes most Arab countries’ contemporary and controversial relations with Washington are shared interests rather than a genuine commitment to reform, a trumpeted yet readily forgotten requirement for partnership in the New World Order as originally promoted by the States.
According to Martinez, the Libyan regime’s stability rests exactly on its ‘conversion’ and alliance with Western nations; a newly-found ‘friendship’ recently sealed with the signing of commercial contracts profitable enough to overshadow vocal protests at the country’s questionable human rights’ record.
--Chiara Sulmoni
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- Origin CERMAM
- http://www.cermam.org/en/logs/book/the_libyan_paradox/
- Publié le 15 January 2008