I thought I’d start something new this term. If you’ve ever had a scroll down Wikipedia’s homepage, you’ll notice a small section listing events. Here, it’ll tell you everything that happened on this day in history that you decided you needed to check Wikipedia for a brief overview of your last lecture. I’m gonna consider one of these events when I can, give a little bit of an overview and reflect on the outcome of the event in the present day. Today, on 20th October in 2011, Muammar Gaddafi was captured and killed, effectively ending the Libyan Civil War.
Now, this may not seem that significant in the world of Politics and IR, but bear with me a second.
Okay, so a little bit of background. Libya is a country located in Africa that borders Algeria, Tunisia, Chad, Niger, Sudan, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. Since 1969, Libya had been effectively ruled by a dictator known as Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi claimed to have given up much of his power in 1977, but he was extremely successful in manipulating many government positions to ensure no one threatened his own position. Despite raising living standards significantly in his first decade of rule, much of this early success fizzled out. Issues with censorship and human rights violations were common place. Gaddafi even made sure to keep the military weak so that a coup from the military would be an easy match (should it ever happen). Of course, Gaddafi didn’t anticipate the events of the Arab Spring.
After revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, the Libyan people revolted against their leader in February 2011. Much of the world watched events unfold across the Middle East, with many western powers hoping to extend the arm of democracy and trade. After all, Libya had the 10th largest proven oil reserves in the world (a commodity in high demand these days). But what made Libya significant was the responses to the crisis, both domestically and internationally.
It was noted that Gaddafi responded with much more force than the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia. Much like Syria, Gaddafi was less keen to stand down so easily. Instead, he decided to wage war on his own citizens. After a month of chaos, the UN decided to speak.
It’s at this point I think it’s best to consider the UN’s dilemma. Should the international community intervene or stand by?
After the 2005 World Summit on the Responsibility To Protect (R2P), the UN Security Council decided to pass a resolution in March 2011 authorising the use of military intervention in Libya (If you want to learn more about R2P, click here).
As you’ve probably guessed by now, Gaddafi was deposed by October 2011. After taking cover in his last stronghold, he was eventually captured and executed on 20th October 2011. 3 days later, the civil war was declared over.
6 years later, the situation in Libya isn’t exactly sunshine and roses. Yes, there are now democratic institutions in place that are as free as they can be from corruption. But there’s still two factions. In fact, a second civil war broke out in 2014.
The fact is, the UN and international community still hasn’t grasped the full understanding of ‘intervention’. The UN authorised military intervention in Libya, but didn’t necessarily plan for what happens when military intervention is no longer needed. Further, when does foreign intervention become too much? NATO and several other western allies were quick to follow the UN’s resolution. But air striking a country, claiming you’re there protecting civilians from STATE violence, isn’t hypocritical at all?
Many scholars and journalists fear that what happened in Libya is only going to be repeated in Syria. And the world has already dragged itself so far down into the Syrian Civil War. If the war ended tomorrow, and all foreign intervention left, the country would be left with no way to rebuild and no way to protect itself, domestically and internationally. But then you have somewhere like Afghanistan on the other end of the scale. US troops have been stationed there for nearly 2 decades!
When does intervention become ‘occupation’?