This report assesses the challenges facing Libya since the overthrow of the Qaddafi regime and evaluates the impact of the limited international role in efforts to overcome them. It also sketches possible future roles for the international community.

Why has Libya fallen apart since 2011? The world has largely given up trying to understand how the revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi has left the country a failed state and a major security headache for Europe. Gaddafi's police state has been replaced by yet another dictatorship, amidst a complex conflict of myriad armed groups, Islamists, tribes, towns and secularists. What happened? One of few foreign journalists to have lived in post-revolution Tripoli, Ulf Laessing has unique insight into the violent nature of post-Gaddafi politics. Confronting threats from media-hostile militias and jihadi kidnappings, in a world where diplomats retreat to their compounds and guns are drawn at government press conferences, Laessing has kept his ear to the ground and won the trust of many key players. Understanding Libya Since Gaddafi is an original blend of personal anecdote and nuanced Libyan history. It offers a much-needed diagnosis of why war has erupted over a desert nation of just 6 million, and of how the country blessed with Africa's greatest energy reserves has been reduced to state collapse.

Why has Libya fallen apart since 2011? The world has largely given up trying to understand how the revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi has left the country a failed state and a major security headache for Europe. Gaddafi's police state has been replaced by yet another dictatorship, amidst a complex conflict of myriad armed groups, Islamists, tribes, towns and secularists. What happened? One of few foreign journalists to have lived in post-revolution Tripoli, Ulf Laessing has unique insight into the violent nature of post-Gaddafi politics. Confronting threats from media-hostile militias and jihadi kidnappings, in a world where diplomats retreat to their compounds and guns are drawn at government press conferences, Laessing has kept his ear to the ground and won the trust of many key players. Understanding Libya Since Gaddafi is an original blend of personal anecdote and nuanced Libyan history. It offers a much-needed diagnosis of why war has erupted over a desert nation of just 6 million, and of how the country blessed with Africa's greatest energy reserves has been reduced to state collapse.

A year after Qaddafi's death, the light-footprint approach adopted for Libya's postwar transition is facing its most serious test. Security, the political transition, and economic development all present challenges. The security situation requires immediate attention and could worsen still. Until the militias are brought under state control, progress on other fronts will be very difficult to achieve. In most cases, the appropriate approach is a combination of incentives and broad-based negotiation between Tripoli and militia leaders. Only in extreme cases should the use of force be considered. On the political front, Libya and international actors deserve credit for the successful elections in July, but the political challenges ahead are significant. Libya still needs to write a constitution, and in doing so, it must determine the degree to which power is centralized in Tripoli and how to ensure inclusive yet stable governing institutions. Libya also needs to begin rethinking the management of its economy, and especially of its energy resources, to maximize the benefit to its citizens, reduce corruption, and enable private enterprise to flourish in other areas, such as tourism. Libya also needs sustained assistance, mainly technical in nature, from the countries that helped oust Qaddafi lest the transition run off the rails. Despite its role in helping topple Qaddafi, NATO is absent from Libya today. A greater role for the alliance is worth exploring, for example training Libyan security officials and forces and providing technical assistance for security-sector reform. An international Friends of Libya conference on assistance to Libya is warranted. Post-conflict transitions normally span years, and Libya's will be no different. Nevertheless, if current challenges are handled adroitly, Libya could still emerge as a positive force for democratic stability in North Africa and a valuable partner against al-Qaeda.

Toppling Qaddafi is a carefully researched, highly readable look at the role of the United States and NATO in Libya's war of liberation and its lessons for future military interventions. Based on extensive interviews within the US government, this book recounts the story of how the United States and its European allies went to war against Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, why they won the war, and what the implications for NATO, Europe, and Libya will be. This was a war that few saw coming, and many worried would go badly awry, but in the end the Qaddafi regime fell and a new era in Libya's history dawned. Whether this is the kind of intervention that can be repeated, however, remains an open question - as does Libya's future and that of its neighbors.

This edited volume provides the first fully comprehensive evaluation of Libya since the Qadhafi coup in 1969. Throughout the different chapters the authors explore the rise of the military in Libya, the impact of its self-styled revolution on Libyan society and economy.

Offers an in-depth analysis of Muammar Qaddafi's complete reign in Libya, from his bloodless coup in 1969 to his institution of policies that mirrored his personal vision to his downfall during the 2011 revolt.

The 2011 Libyan Uprisings is a thematic investigation of how pre-existing social, regional, tribal, and religious fissures influenced the trajectory of the 2011 Libyan Uprisings and an analysis of what this means for the post-Qadhafi future.

Politieke biografie van de Libische leider (geb. ca. 1942)

"A powerful study. . . . With devastating understatement, Kikhia shows how Qaddafi's rule made everything far worse than it had been under the monarchy--from the availability of water to industrial output, from personal freedoms to foreign policy. . . . In brief, this is by far the best book ever written on the Qaddafi era."--Daniel Pipes, Middle East Quarterly "A first-rate objective analysis of the complexities of modern Libyan politics with a special focus on that country's controversial leader. . . . Thoughtful and well-researched . . . evenhanded and immensely readable."--Library Journal With a perspective rarely available to American readers, Mansour O. El-Kikhia, a native of Libya, offers this readable and comprehensive overview of his revolutionary homeland and its controversial leader. He presents a brief history of Libya through the periods of colonization, independence, Arab socialism, and economic growth and then explains the impact of Qaddafi's personality and policies in this context. Mansour O. El-Kikhia is associate professor of political science at the University of Texas, San Antonio.