The 2011 Libyan Uprisings and the Struggle for the Post-Qadhafi Future And the Struggle for the Post-Qadhafi Future

In 2011, spontaneous popular uprisings overthrew Muammar Qadhafi - one of the world's most infamous tyrants. Paradoxically, it was Qadhafi's own efforts to "reform" Libya's economy and rebuild the country's international relationships since 2003 that set the stage for Qadhafi's downfall. Despite the enabling effects of twenty-first century communications technology and the aid of NATO jets, the 2011 Libyan uprisings were organized largely along traditional regional, local, and tribal cleavages. The future of post-Qadhafi Libya will be determined by a struggle between "center" and "periphery." This contest has deep resonances in Libyan history.

A work of contemporary political history, this volume analyzes the 2011 Libyan uprisings thematically - focusing on the roles of economics, outside actors, tribes, ethnic minorities, and Islamists. This volume's contributors include the British Ambassador to Libya during the uprisings, the President of the American University of Cairo, a former commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and the world's leading academic and security specialists in Libyan affairs.

Jason Pack is a researcher of Middle Eastern History at University of Cambridge, UK, with over seven years of experience living, studying, and working in the Middle East. He is President of Libya-Analysis.com and co-author of In War's Wake: The Struggle for Post-Qadhafi Libya (2012). His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, and The Guardian.

1. Introduction: the Center and the Periphery; Jason Pack
2. Dynamics of Continuity and Change; George Joffé
3. The Post-Qadhafi Economy; Ronald Bruce St John
4. The Role of Outside Actors; Ambassador Richard Northern and Jason Pack
5. The Rise of Tribal Politics; Wolfram Lacher
6. The South; Henry Smith
7. Islamists; Noman Benotman, Jason Pack, and James Brandon
Afterword: Libya – A Journey from Extraordinary to Ordinary; Lisa Anderson