A decade has passed since the last elections were held in Libya, and the country remains mired in a stalemate and deeply divided. Despite several attempts led by the United Nations to stabilize the country, competing centers of power have failed to agree on new elections and a transition to peace. Yet, the enduring challenges Libya faces extend beyond the political impasse to include governance failures, economic hardships, widespread kleptocracy and corruption, and the spread of militias and armed actors—with external meddling turning the country into a theater for international rivalries.

This set of essays, edited by Karim Mezran and Aldo Liga, tracks how the situation in Libya has evolved over the last ten years, addressing important questions such as:

• What is obstructing efforts to agree upon a new stabilization pathway for Libya?
• What role are international actors playing in either resolving the crisis or perpetuating it?
• How are internal political struggles and relations with other countries affecting the situation?
• What can the international community do to move past these challenges?

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Jul 30, 2024

The UN should take a bolder stance in Libya

By Álvaro de Argüelles

The two main armed conflicts of the last two years—in Gaza and Ukraine—have led to the belief that international politics are ruled again by sheer force and that the United Nations is no longer a relevant actor.

Conflict Libya

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Jul 30, 2024

Internationalized kleptocracy is on the rise in Libya

By Oliver Windridge

On April 16, 2024, UN Special Representative for Libya Abdoulaye Bathily announced he would resign, citing a “lack of political will and good faith” among Libyan leaders. Few would disagree with his diagnosis that the vested interests of Libyan leaders have created a roadblock for progress.

Conflict Libya

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Jul 30, 2024

Benghazi is a major stumbling block for national reconciliation efforts

By Mary Fitzgerald

In May 2014 Libyan General Khalifa Haftar launched a then-unauthorized military operation from Benghazi, Libya’s second city. The operation, which Haftar named Karama, or Dignity, was centered on but not limited to Benghazi; its declared aim was to eradicate what Haftar and his associates described as terrorism. However, it prompted a swell of armed opposition from those who suspected it was a pretext for the septuagenarian general’s ambition to rule Libya.

Conflict Libya

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Jul 30, 2024

After anti-migration efforts shrank its influence, Rome needs a new Libya policy

By Karim Mezran, Aldo Liga

It has been more than thirteen years since the outbreak of the 2011 Libyan revolution and the moment when Italy reluctantly supported the NATO-led intervention that imposed a no-fly zone over Libya purportedly to protect the population from Muammar Gaddafi’s retaliation.

Italy Libya

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Jul 30, 2024

Libya is the crucial hub for Moscow’s activities in Africa

By Chiara Lovotti, Alissa Pavia

Over the past decade, Russia’s involvement in Libya is evidence of its realization that it could transition from a marginal power to a significant competitor in the country, and thus in the broader Middle East and North Africa.

Conflict Middle East

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Jul 30, 2024

After 2011, the United States stayed on the sidelines—to Libya’s detriment

By Ben Fishman

When reflecting over the last decade of the US policy, especially in the Trump and Biden administrations, three consistent trends emerge: insufficient support for the UN political process to restore legitimacy to Libya’s political; leadership, repeated appeals to eastern warlord and head of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar to participate in a political process; and most consequentially for the United States, a seeming lack of attention to Russia’s increased presence in Libya.

Conflict Libya

Related Experts: Karim Mezran and Alissa Pavia

Image: Members of the Libyan armed unit, 444 Brigade, backing the Government of National Unity (GNU) and its Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, set up a checkpoint as smoke rises in the background in Ain Zara area in Tripoli, Libya, July 22, 2022. REUTERS/Hazem Ahmed