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.
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.
Industry Reviews
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. -- Marc Lynch, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs; Director, Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS), The George Washington University, U.S
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. -- Klaus Schlichte, Professor of International Relations and Politics in the World Society, University of Bremen, Germany
This could easily become the defining book on the crisis in Libya since 2011 -- Jacob Mundy, Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Colgate University, U.S.
Based on extensive fieldwork inside Libya, over 400 interviews and deep contextual knowledge, Libya's Fragmentation is a major contribution to recent scholarship on the war-torn North African country. Moreover, the book's insights into the dynamic interplay between armed actors and the social groups from which they emerge have resonance beyond the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Libya's Fragmentation is the only book available today which both takes Libya's complexity seriously, while attempting to say something more broadly about the nature of civil war and society, as such it deserves to become as staple of North African politics and civil war studies courses for years to come. -- Christopher Thornton, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, in Mediterranean Politics
Wolfram Lacher's book on post-Qadhafi Libya is sure to become an indispensable reference on the North African country. The many visits the author made to Libya since 2007 give him access to a large range of factual details and witness accounts. Lacher's meticulous work tangibly and vividly immerses the reader in the uncertainty and the extraordinary danger of these few weeks of 2011 that were so crucial in shaping the post-Qadhafi era. -- Jalel Harchaoui, Clingendael Institute, in Politique Etrangere
