Libya: From Colony to Independence (review)

Scholars like Ronald Bruce St John that have written on Libya for more than three decades are a rare species. With a special passion for Libya’s international relations, St John has highlighted virtually all aspects of Mu‘ammar al-Qadhafi’s foreign policy in numerous books and articles. His newest book, Libya: From Colony to Independence, fills an important gap in the literature on Libya by presenting a history not limited to a certain time period — as other notable books such as those of Dirk Vandewalle and Ali Abdullatif Ahmida have done — but spanning from the Phoenician settlements to developments in 2007.

Aimed at the general reader rather than at the academic community, this book features no theoretical discussions, overarching arguments, or hypotheses. This obviously poses the risk of a mere compilation of historical chapters and facts, and the book could have benefited from more of a structuring argument. Yet, St John largely and elegantly avoids the compilation trap by crosscutting his chronological narrative with more topical subchapters (on the rise of Arab nationalism, for instance), and by setting foci, both explicit and implicit. He keeps early history as well as the period of Ottoman occupation short, nevertheless highlighting developments and issues important for understanding the more recent history, for instance, the emergence of the Sanusi order in the 19^th century or the historic fragmentation of the territory later to become Libya into three distinct regions.

In the subsequent chapter on the Italian colonial period, and even more so in the excellent chapters on the struggle for independence and the genesis of the United Kingdom of Libya, St John strongly focuses on the strategic considerations of international powers — the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Russia — with respect to a country courted by both sides of the Cold War and initially hosting British and American military bases. The fact that Libya in 1959 was the largest per capita recipient of US aid was a (highly illustrative) function of the country’s strategic value.

One of the merits of this book is the fact that it puts Libya before Qadhafi in such a fascinating light. There is a tendency in the literature to portray Libya as an interesting case from a political point of view only after Qadhafi’s ascendance to power. This goes hand in hand with the focus on Qadhafi’s system as a radical departure from the structures and institutions of the past. Of course, this is the case to a large extent, but St John’s book also shows continuities. The detailed portrayal of the monarchical period, for instance, reveals that Libya’s striving for Maghrib Unity (as a counterweight to Arab nationalism coming from the Mashriq) predated Qadhafi. And the ways in which political authority was exercised through local notables and tribal leaders are not that different from the ways in which Qadhafi (after unsuccessfully trying to marginalize the tribes) is using them today.

The four chapters dealing with Libya under Qadhafi testify to the author’s ability to convey the complexities and oddities of the Libyan system in understandable terms, not hesitating to point to achievements but definitely not prone to glorifying Qadhafi’s path or person. Here, St John again is at his best when it comes to analyzing the developments in Libya’s international relations, be it the strategy of containing Israeli influence in Sub-Saharan Africa or the long period of confrontation with the United States. Of course, St John also focuses on Qadhafi’s ideology and the country’s internal political and economic developments. But with few exceptions the author does not explore these to the extent or in the depth he devotes to some of the foreign policy subchapters.

The book ends on a rather pessimistic note, forecasting some economic reform but no substantive political reform (St John titled one of his most recent articles “Libya: Reforming the Economy, Not...