The foreign policy process in Libya

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3979442
AutoresGeorge Joffe (University of Cambridge), Emanuela Paoletti (University of Oxford)
Ano2011
Volume16
Fascículo2
Páginas183-213
Data de publicação2011-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13629387.2010.526288
OpenAlexW2024516852
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas7
Referências citadas17

The policy process in Libya is complex and intensely personalised around the figure of the Libyan leader, even if it also relies on a structured consultation process. Libya's foreign policy fits within this paradigm as well, as our research amongst Libyan policy-makers has demonstrated. Yet, despite its apparent unpredictability, it abides by three basic principles that interact with each other: opportunistic constancy, national self-interest and ideological commitment. Whilst the correlation between the first two elements is linear and progressive, their correlation with the third is inverted and retrogressive although they can condition and shape it as well. Actual relations form four inter-connected conceptual circles covering the Arab world, Africa, the West (Europe and America) and the BRICs (Russia, China, Latin America and Asia). Thus relations with the Arab world and Africa are suffused with ideological import alongside Libya's pragmatic objectives in Africa, whilst with Europe and America they are conditioned by pragmatic constancy based on oil and international acceptance. With the world of the BRICs, some of Libya's old visions of anti-imperialism have resurfaced but commercial concerns still dominate interrelationships. The personalised nature of foreign policy decisions has been powerfully reflected in recent years in Libya's bilateral relationships, as Bulgaria, Britain, Canada and Switzerland have recently discovered. They reflect a deep insistence that Libya and its leader should be taken at their own evaluation. Where this has not happened, Libyan displeasure has been manifest, the degree of displeasure being tempered only by a pragmatic and opportunistic consideration of possible adverse consequences. Overall, however, the constant and underlying theme since the 1990s has been regaining international acceptance, one which, even if its content is diametrically opposed to the patterns of that past, reflects the objectives of the 1970s and 1980s as well

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