Libya's Qaddafi : The Politics of Contradiction

Mansour El-Kikhia provides a readable, comprehensive and objective overview of modern Libyan politics with special attention to Muammar al-Qaddafi and the domestic and regional forces responsible for shaping his character and politics. The author explains the impact of Qaddafi's personality and policies, his terrorism, and his foreign adventures on Libya's domestic and international relations by placing Qaddafi's regime in historical context. Beginning with early Greek and Punic influences on the region, El-Kikhia offers a brief history of Libya through the periods of colonization, Independence, Arab socialism and economic growth in order to demonstrate the continuity of Libyan politics, economic, social and foreign policy development from ancient times to the current regime. Born in Libya, El-Kikhia experienced firsthand many of the events that he analyzes. He offers a perspective rarely available to American readers, given the difficulty of conducting research in that country. He draws on published literature not only in English but also in French, Italian, German and Arabic, and his bibliography is one of the most comprehensive available on the subject. His account of the revolutionary state should appeal to students of the region, students of government, policy makers and analysts, journalists, and nonspecialists seeking an informed and accessible source to this little-understood country and its controversial leader.