REVOLT IN LIBYA

Revolt in Libya

Revolt in Libya

Introduction

Libyan Civil war is a war underway in the North African country that sees opposing forces and loyalist of Muammar Gaddafi and those of the rebels, gathered in the Interim National Council of transition. Libya, has known in a few weeks the outlet of the revolt in civil conflict, following the development in almost all the Arab world; after experiencing an initial phase of popular uprising also known as the Revolution of February 17 (Shrivastava, 2011).

The revolt in Libya, particularly, triggered by a desire to change the political system against the regime's fortieth anniversary of President Jamahiriyya Muammar Qaddafi. Qaddafi came to power in 1 September 1969, after a coup that led to the fall of monarchy's pro-Western King Idris. After nearly a month's clash, the United Nations Security Council decided in its 1973 Resolution, to establish a no-fly zone on Libya to protect the civilian population; legitimizing the military intervention by several countries launched on March 19 2011.

This paper discusses the causes of the Libyan revolt, contemporary government of Libya, effects of revolt on its population; revolts' effect on the Libyan economy and the outcome of the revolt is also discussed in this paper.

Causes of the Libyan Revolt

The revolt affected by the Libyan domino effect of the riots in neighboring countries also because of the use of media like the Internet (the most difficult to control by censorship schemes) by the younger generations. The news of the events in Tunisia and Egypt managed, to overcome the historic reluctance to accept forms of dissent of the population. The cause of the high prices did not appear to trigger of the revolt, in contrast to other states involved in the protest in which the triggering factor was in many ways the rise in food prices. The per capita income of the population also stood at 11,307 U.S. dollars a year, a parameter higher than the other states of the Maghreb (five times higher than Egypt). The oil, however, the resources which the country is the first owner of the African country, followed by Algeria and Nigeria, is the most important resource of the country and the main source of wealth. However, in spite of the economic conditions, the contagion of revolt in North Africa and Near East has proved inevitable.

Qaddafi, before the outbreak of the revolution relied on some basic elements of power in the country; a policy of massive government subsidies, the massive use of repression of dissent and the tacit agreement with the tribes most refractory to its power. The regime, however, had not solved the big knot of unemployment, which affects 30% of citizens, especially women and young people; nor do the agreements with foreign companies, nor the infrastructure plans, are part of a broader project of economic reform launched in the country since 2000 (coinciding with the end of sanctions) could remedy this scourge (Sherwell, 2011). The failure of development projects and liberalization, the growing discontent, intensified by mass arrival ...