Research output
Complete citation
Poljarevic, Emin. Libya’s Violent Revolution. COSMOS Working Paper 2012/05. Florence: European University Institute, 2012. https://hdl.handle.net/1814/26178.
Status
Published (2012)
Publication type
Research working paper
Overview
This working paper examines the Libyan uprising of 2011 and the distinctive conditions under which protest developed into armed revolution. It situates mobilisation within the institutional legacy of Qaddafi’s rule: the systematic weakening of state structures, restrictions on autonomous civil society, regional divisions, and the concentration of political authority in informal revolutionary institutions. The analysis follows the rapid escalation from local protest to militarised confrontation and international intervention. It considers how fragmented opposition networks, coercive state responses, and the absence of established organisations shaped both revolutionary success and the difficulties of post-regime transition. The paper’s contribution is an early, process-oriented account of Libya’s uprising that links social-movement dynamics to state breakdown and armed conflict, while identifying institutional problems that would later become central to the country’s failed transition.
Research question or central concern
How did Libya’s institutional structure and patterns of mobilisation transform the 2011 uprising from protest into violent revolution?
Main argument, approach, and contribution
The paper combines political-process analysis with close attention to Libya’s weak formal institutions, regional divisions, coercive escalation, and external intervention. It argues that the uprising’s militarisation was shaped by the interaction between regime structure and fragmented opposition mobilisation. Its contribution is to connect revolutionary dynamics with the institutional vulnerabilities inherited by the post-Qaddafi order.
Keywords
Libya; Arab uprisings; revolution; social movements; civil war; Qaddafi; political transition
Emin Poljarević 