Understanding Libya since Gaddafi by Ulf Laessing

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

COMPTES RENDUS 417 ULF LAESSING. UNDERSTANDING LIBYA SINCE GADDAFI LONDON: HURST PUBLISHER, 2020, 297 PAGES Ulf Laessing, the Reuters Bureau Chief for Egypt and Sudan, has written a remarkable book about Libya, where he spent lengthy periods at different times. The importance of the book is that it is written about a period when there was little news coming out of the country, especially during peaks of the civil war, which Laessing witnessed first-hand. Most of the book is connected to the experience he lived through when he was present in the country. The author provides a thorough account of Libya from the time of Gaddafi to the present. Although the focus of the book is on the developments in the war torn country since the fall of Gaddafi, Laessing correctly points out that one cannot understand Libya without understanding its past; Libya, a ‘state created by accident…stitched together by foreign powers after World War II’ (pp. 1011 ). From the onset, the reader is informed that Libya is a complex state in which tribes continue to play a big role and one that has failed to build lasting state institutions. Although this book does not purport to be an academic endeavour; it offers a good analytical approach, but there is no theoretical framework to explain the nature of the Libyan state past and present. The book describes painstakingly, with a wealth of information, how a wealthy country became a failed state and a threat to its immediate neighbours and to Europe. The fascinating aspect of this book is the massive information that the author has collected during his visits to Libya, which provides credibility to this firsthand account of the developments in the country. In his narration of events in Libya, Laessing combines observation and interviews with the locals, including officials, in both the eastern and western parts of the country—post-Gaddafi Libya having had two opposite governments until March 2021 (that is, after the publication of the book). The first chapter provides an informative, albeit brief, overview of the period from 1911 to the eve of the 2011 uprising. Titled, ‘accidental state’, this chapter highlights Laessing’s argument that the Idris monarchy and the Gaddafi regime both failed to build a genuine state based on institutions; tribal and family connections rather than formal institutions governed the decision-making process. Thus, even after Gaddafi was toppled in 2011, there was nothing that Libyans could do to reinstate a sense of statehood because the institutions that existed were weak and divided (p.35). In sum, there is still no interest in the construction of a modern state; Libyans seem to continue to tear down the country. Those knowledgeable about Libya may concur with such pessimistic diagnosis. Chapter two covers what will be one of the recurring themes of the book: the role of the militias that emerged from the revolution. In fact, one might argue that Laessing’s fascinating treatment of the militias constitutes by far the strength of this volume. The title of the chapter as ‘militialand’ provides a 418 BOOK REVIEWS persuasive depiction of the absence of a state and the anarchic the situation prevailing in the country. For instance, in the city of Misrata alone the 236 rebel groups that had formed to topple Gaddafi totalled nearly 40,000 militia members (p. 39). Laessing deftly describes the role that the militias did and continue to play in divided Libya. The weapons they had seized during the revolution were used by the rebels turned militias to impose their control and impose their legitimacy based on the alleged part they had played in the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime. After the fall of Gaddafi, the alliance that had formed to bring down the regime broke, resulting in the exponentiation of armed militias with different agendas. Islamist militias taking revenge against former security officers forced the latter to join the Libyan National Army that renegade Marshal Khalifa Haftar assembled in 2014. Laessing recounts in detail how these militias worked for the seeming ministries; their real interest was in receiving salaries rather than converting to authentic soldiers by way of military training, though, initially, a few hundred did receive...