Libya's Fragmentation - by Wolfram Lacher (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

After the overthrow of the Qadhafi regime in 2011, Libya witnessed a dramatic breakdown of centralized power. Countless local factions carved up the country into a patchwork of spheres of influence. Almost no nationwide or even regional organizations emerged, and no national institutions survived the turbulent descent into renewed civil war. Only the leader of one armed coalition, Khalifa Haftar, has managed to overcome competitors and centralize authority over eastern Libya. As he attempts to seize power in the capital Tripoli, dozens of armed groups in western Libya have coalesced to offer tenacious resistance.

Rarely does internal division and political fragmentation occur as radically as in Libya. This has been the primary obstacle to the re-establishment of central authority. This book analyzes the forces that have shaped the country's trajectory since 2011. Questioning widely held assumptions about the role of Libya's tribes in the revolution, Wolfram Lacher shows how war transformed pre-existing social structures and explains why Khalifa Haftar has been able to consolidate his sway over the northeast. Based on hundreds of interviews with key actors in the conflict, Lacher advances a new approach to the study of civil wars, placing the social ties of actors at the centre of analysis and exploring the link between violent conflict and social cohesion.

Review Quotes

This book is a rich, empirically informed treatment of an important and neglected topic. Wolfram Lacher sets out an intriguing puzzle about fragmentation in post-Qadhafi Libya. What makes the book stand out is the depth of the fieldwork - not only are there few academics or researchers working on the ground in Libya, but the research he conducted over the years is fundamentally non-replicable. This is likely to be one of the very few books of its kind, able to combine field research with theory to explain this period of Libya's history - with implications well beyond Libya.

This book is unquestionably a milestone in research on Libya and conflict dynamics in the country. At the same time, its theoretical insights make a significant contribution to the study of violent conflict. This work is likely to become a standard reference not only on Libya, but in the study of civil wars more broadly.

This could easily become the defining book on the crisis in Libya since 2011

About the Author

Wolfram Lacher is Senior Associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). His research focuses on conflict dynamics in Libya and the Sahel region, and relies on frequent fieldwork. Lacher has published in many journals and media outlets, including Survival, Mediterranean Politics, Foreign Affairs and The Washington Post. He received his PhD in Political Science from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.