Libya’s post-colonial narrative is a complicated one that has led Libya to become a relatively prosperous African country with a better standard of living than it had before; yet, Libya remains rife with political chaos following the assassination of its 42-year dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, by rebel groups. In its history, Libya became an Italian colony in 1912, but was declared as an independent state in 1951 by the United Nations. On December 24, 1951, King Mohammed Idris al-Senussi was chosen by a national assembly to become the first and only monarch of the newly independent United Kingdom of Libya. Then, after a military coup on September 1, 1969, Gaddafi overthrew King Idris’ regime and came into power. Since then, Libya has developed into a relatively wealthy African nation and is faring better than it had been during its colonial years. However, political unrest and violence is widespread throughout Libya today. Libya's post-colonial narrative is a two-sided one: its relatively prosperous state was shaped by a combination of interconnected internal and external pressures, including the limitations of its natural environment, the reforms of its post-colonial rulers, as well as its interactions with other countries; meanwhile, its current social-political chaos developed from internal dissatisfaction with Gaddafi’s dictatorial regime and a wide range of conflicting political opinions among Libyan citizens.
The physical limitations of Libya’s environment have long been an internal obstacle in the way of Libya’s development. As stated by David Lamb in The Africans:
Some of Africa’s problems—especially those caused by forces other than man—are so enormous, so constant, that a people of lesser spirit long since would have succumb...
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...on of both internal and external pressures: Libya’s relative prosperity came about due to the Libyans’ effective solutions to coping with their harsh natural environment, the successful reforms of its rulers, and the lucrative, as well as essential, trade that Libya had with other nations. Meanwhile, Libya’s social-political chaos can be attributed to political unrest within the country, the dissatisfaction of some Libyans with Gaddafi, and the problems that arose following his death. Libya’s post-colonial narrative is significant because it is still a developing country, and events that occur in Libya may indirectly affect many in today’s interconnected world. The stability of Libyan exports, especially oil, can have a great impact on oil prices throughout the world, and thus, the continuation of Libya’s two-sided post-colonial narrative is one to pay attention to.
The 2011 Libyan Civil War started as peaceful protesting in front of the police headquarters over ruler Muammar Gaddafi’s corruption as their leader. This protest was met with brutal police violence. This sparked the Transitional National Council’s formation in an effort to change the government. The peaceful protest then made the leap to a rebel uprising that began to spread across the entire country. In order to contain this rebellion effort, Gaddafi stepped up his military control of the country and took back major cities. He also blocked off the public’s access to the media with censorsh...
Africa has an incredibly rich and complex history. Unfortunately, and for a variety of reasons, the west has a highly skewed and inaccurate perspective of Africa. In his “Myths About Africa, Africans, and African History: The Student’s ‘Ten Commandments’” Pier Larson critiques some of these perspectives and discusses where these western ideas of Africa come from. While these myths certainly are false, it is still interesting to see them and ponder why they exist and what that, in turn, reflects on western society. These reflections are very negative and limits western society’s perspective and ability to relate and identify with what is a vast and diverse continent.
The purpose of this essay is to adequately depict the current conflict in Darfur and discuss the effects that the Darfur Conflict has had on the neighboring countries, the Horn of Africa region and U.S. interest. In addition, this essay will explore how Darfur Conflict affects global concerns.
Bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, and completely enclosed by the Sahara Desert, Libya is a low-populated country that was once was a part of the Roman province of New Africa. While the sum region is close up to 680,000 square miles, the population is close to merely 5.6 million, appearing in a low community frequency of 9.4 persons every square mile. Libya has a Parliamentary Government. A parliamentary democracy is a democratic form of government in which the party with the greatest representation in the parliament (legislature) forms the government. So instead of having the separation of powers like we do here in the United States, Libya’s government has its powers placed in one main section.
Early 2011 uprisings swept across the Middle East and North Africa, and many rebellions are still going on today. The Arab region has seen revolts and conflict since the 1800‘s, but only recently have these revolts been redirected to the problems of Arab society (Ghannam, J. 2011 pg 4-5)The Arab Spring Uprising was first sparked in Tunisia and eventually struck Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and then spread to other countries. Citizens throughout these countries were dissatisfied with the rule of their local governments. Issues like human rights violations, political corruption, economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, dictators...
The culture of Africa is manifold and varied. Africa is a product of the different diverse populations that today inhabit the continent of Africa and the communities throughout the world that are descended from the historic movement of people...
It is important to care about Africa because it is the most forgotten continent by the Western world. Africa doesn’t have the same impact as the Middle East with western society’s dependence of natural resources, such as oil and minerals. It does not escape the issue that several African rebel groups severely abuse women and children, forcing them to become child soldiers and raped at young ages. Several of human right abuses caused by the rebel groups go unpunished. In order to gain attention by the government, the rebels control territories in resource-rich areas in return gain more power and rise to destabilize the order of the state.. Rebels have strategic goals in gaining attention by increasing their value in natural resources as rebels, to increase their influential value of capturing the state (Humphrey, 2005). The question that appeals to many researchers is how do rebel groups’ resources affect the government response to their
In 1973 Gaddafi began a campaign called the “Popular Revolution.” This is called the popular revolution because it was what the people wanted and what Gaddafi wanted. He was going to restart the government and basically all of Libya. While doing this he banned the c...
In the mid 1980s Africa was struck by a period of famines, desertification, refugees, human rights violations, mutually destructive violence, health problems and economic decline. “among the economic factors, severe balance of trade deficits caused by weak world commodity prices, fluctuating interest rates which cause national debts to swell to unbearable limits, and a severe drop in international aid investment combined to create frustratingly high levels of social-economic hardship.”(Quainoo 6) The issues Africa was facing brought a great deal of doubt to it’s people’s faith in authoritarianism, and eventually led to many protest demanding democratization.
When Colonel Gaddafi inherited power peacefully, it was a burdening task to transform an impoverished nation located on a barren desert which recently declared independence, to the wealthiest African country where citizens enjoyed exceptional rights and a true direct democracy, called Jahiliyya. Prior to the US-led bombing campaign in 2011, Libya had the highest Human Development Index, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy in all of Africa. Under his rule, he raised the literacy levels from a low 25% to an exceptional 87% in which 25% of those earned university degrees. He also established what is known in America as “Pursuit of property” as he considered a home for every person a natural human right, as stated in his
Africa’s struggle to maintain their sovereignty amidst the encroaching Europeans is as much a psychological battle as it is an economic and political one. The spillover effects the system of racial superiority had on the African continent fractured ...
The major, direct and the most important reason of the Libyan revolution was the improper treatment of people by Muammar Gaddafi. “Most nations were once sympathetic with the Libyan revolution with the international media focusing on the crisis in Libya. Regional and international organizations also ...
..., town by town, to brutalize men, women and children, the world refused to stand idly by”. This refers to the notion that when one state is suffering, that is when international relations has to kick into gear and help out. But was there an incentive for the international system to help Libya(oil maybe?). Specifically a unipolar superpower like the US. They didn’t help in Tunisia or Egypt, why Libya in particular? During the revolution, NATO backed the Libyan rebels and cause them to win vey battles during the civil war. US made a promise to continue to help Libya in its’ pursuit of democracy, but it looks as though Libya is going to have to figure this part of it fate on its own as most countries are staying away at the moment. But when the economy is up and running, and oil production is back at its peaks, What will the international system look like for Libya then?
There is no doubt that European colonialism has left a grave impact on Africa. Many of Africa’s current and recent issues can trace their roots back to the poor decisions made during the European colonial era. Some good has resulted however, like modern medicine, education, and infrastructure. Africa’s history and culture have also been transformed. It will take many years for the scars left by colonization to fade, but some things may never truly disappear. The fate of the continent may be unclear, but its past provides us with information on why the present is the way it is.
The widely known novel named Things Fall Apart was written by a man by the name of Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart represents the cultural roots of the Igbos in order to provide self-confidence, but at the same time refers them to universal principles which vitiate their destructive potential (Rhoads 61). As the reader continues through the narrative and learn more in depth about the characters a sense of pride, trust, and faith in history come into view. Seeing Achebe’s duty as a writer in a new nation as showing his people the dignity that they had lost during the colonial period, he sets out to illustrate that before the European colonial powers entered Africa, the Igbos had a philosophy of great depth and value and beauty, that they had poetry and, above all, they had dignity (Rhoads 61). Yet, with the introduction of colonialism the characters must learn to accept and get used to a new culture and set of beliefs or face termination from society. The novel focuses on the troubles of African cultures and their struggle to adjust to colonialism. As the novel progresses, one can also observe the influence of religion over time and how it has changed in many societies. Although many readers would describe the colonialism in Africa as something normal and something you can not prevent; a closer look of this novel would suggest that the needs of human nature to expand their values and beliefs upon others causes ancient cultures to evolve or fade out of existence. Things Fall Apart in part is a statement of what the future might be if Nigeria were to take advantage of the promising aspects of its past and to eliminate the unpromising ones (Rhoads 62).