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A history of modern Libya / Dirk Vandewalle.

by Vandewalle, Dirk J.

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Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Libya -- History -- 1969-

Libya -- Foreign relations -- 1969-

Libya -- Politics and government -- 1969-

xxxvi, 256 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-235) and index.

Dirk Vandewalle is one of only a handful of scholars who have made frequent visits to Libya over the last four decades. His formidable knowledge of the region is encapsulated in his history of Libya which was first published in 2006. The history traces Libya back to the 1900s with a portrait of Libya's desert terrain, its peoples and the personalities that shaped it development. It then examines the harrowing years of the Italian occupation in the early twentieth century, through the Sanusi monarchy and, thereafter, to the revolution of 1969 and the accession of Qadhafi. The following chapters analyse the economics and politics of Qadhafi's revolution, offering insights into the man and his ideology as reflected in his Green Book. Now in 2011, as Qadhafi fights for his political life in a savage war against his rebel countrymen, the time is ripe for an updated edition of the history which will cover the years from 2003 to the present. This was the period when Libya finally came in from the cold after years of political and economic isolation. The agreement to give up the weapons of mass destruction program paved the way for improved relations with the west. By this time, though, Qadhafi had lost the support of his people and, despite attempts to liberalize the economy, real structural reform proved impossible. This, as Vandewalle contends in the foreword to the new edition, coupled with tribal rivalries, regional division and a general lack of unity, paved the way for revolution and civil war. In an epilogue, the author reflects upon Qadhafi's premiership, the Green Book's stateless society and the legacy that he will leave behind him.

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