Global Violence by Heinze Eric A;

Author:Heinze, Eric A;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Case study: the Libyan Civil War and NATO intervention

The 2011 civil war in Libya is generally understood to be part of the broader, region-wide eruption of popular protests across the Middle East and North Africa known as the “Arab Spring.” Yet the Libyan revolt stood out from other movements taking place in nearby countries such as Egypt and Tunisia because this conflict attracted outside military intervention, allegedly to protect civilians in danger of being massacred, as Gadhafi had famously threatened to execute anyone who resisted the Libyan authorities.23 In response to such threats, as well as reports that Gadhafi’s forces had targeted civilians, the United Nations Security Council sanctioned the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya in March of 2011 and, in effect, authorized the use of military force by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and allied forces to protect civilians from grave human rights abuses. The result was that NATO effectively used air power to avert atrocities against civilians, but in doing so assisted the rebels in toppling the Gadhafi regime, making it a de facto intervention in support of the rebels. This discussion will therefore focus on a couple of different but related questions: to what extent did “the opposition” have the right to rebel against the rule of Colonel Gadhafi, and to what extent did NATO have the right to intervene in this conflict (and on what basis)?

Whether or not the opposition had the right to rebel in the first place will depend on a couple of factors that we discussed above. First, we might be interested in whether “the opposition” is itself a coherent group that did, in fact, have the ability and intention to govern over Libya; a certain degree of support among the Libyan people; and minimal justice on its side. These, of course, are complex empirical questions that are likely to be contested and subject to different interpretations. However, based on what we do know, the individuals who took up arms against the regime were part of various distinct groups that opposed Gadhafi and that had in interest in his ouster for a variety of different reasons. In short, “the opposition” was a tangle of different parties and factions – each of which likely claimed to represent a distinct political community – that found themselves to be fighting against the same regime.24 So to say that they were a single, unified political community is not accurate. It is important to note, however, that, in a matter of weeks after the protests turned into an armed uprising, these disparate groups had managed to cobble together a rebel army from the various groups and individuals who had taken up arms, and they had begun to assemble the beginnings of a transitional council. The Transitional National Council (TNC) was formed on February 27, 2011, and comprised 31 individuals from various cities, towns, and regions that had been liberated by the rebels.25 The TNC presented itself as the political face of the revolution despite the frequent

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