Customer Reviews

Libya since Independence: Oil and State-building

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

An amazingly comprehensive and insightful study of Libya since 1951. Goes far beyond all the hyberbolic statements the Kaddafi regime AND the United States government have made over the years by systematically putting the Libyan political experimentation in the context of Third World development. Judicious and careful, Vandewalle's access to Libya has produced what is perhaps the best book on this difficult subject in this decade. A real contribution to the study of Libya and to middle eastern studies in general.

I lived in Libya for two years and worked as a UNDP officer there. Having had first hand knowledge of this country I have found few books better than Vandewalle's Libya since Independence. Not only is it an informative text about Libya's socio-economic development it is also a study of the distributive State and the very negative consequences that oil wealth can generate if mishandled. Vandewalle deals with Libya since its independence in 1949 and the political, social and economic transformation that occurred from then to the present. The text notes that the regime that was established as a result of the 1969 revolution has made great efforts to distribute the wealth accumulated from oil production among the population while promoting large scale development projects in infrastructure, education and ISI industrial development. By far the largest single development effort has been the multi-billion dollar Great Man Made River (GMMR) project designed to facilitate irrigation for agricultural production along the Libyan coastline. According to the UNDP adequate standards of living have existed for the majority of the population as a result of an extensive program of welfare spending that has included the provision of state provided basic services and subsidies for many consumer products.
Although significant, Libya's development, both before and after the Fatih Revolution, has been almost entirely patronized by the state. Whereas the government intervened in all sectors of the economy, including import and distribution, there has recently been an effort to transfer some of that responsibility to the private sector. The sharp decline of crude oil prices in the mid 1980's hurt the State's distributive capacity and made it necessary to curtail spending and adopt a measure of economic reforms to stimulate greater private sector involvement in the economy. However, the reforms have only effectively served to retract the distributive network welfare system of subsidies and services that had been one the Government's principal sources of legitimacy with the population, while economic liberalization has not contributed to the creation of a viable and productive private sector. The failure of these reforms has highlighted the institutional shortcomings of the regime that enacted them.

A remarkable piece of work. Libya remains one of the countries in the Middle East we know little about, and Vanderwalle's account is one of the best ever. It pretty much replaces whatever has been written about the country during the last 10-15 years in most academic and popular publications. It is scrupulously honest about Kaddafi's politics, and shows as no other previous account how the current Libyan leader extended many of his predecessor's policies. Well written and accessible, despite somewhat a somewhat daunting theoretical chapter. A definitive analysis of Libya since independence.

We just used Libya since Independence in one of my middle east classes at NYU, and I just loved it. I never knew much about Libya except for what I read in the newspaper, and this was quite an eye opener. Deepened my interest in the Middle East immeasurably. And the opening line--a Libyan proverb--is astonishing in its simplicity and farsightedness. Great book.

Having just ordered Vandewalle's book for my seminar and lecture course, I can only wish this insightful account of Qadhafi's revolution--and its link to the Sanusi kingdom's attempt to avoid creating a modern state--had been available much earlier. It is easily the most sophisticated analysis of the country ever written, and the thoughtful application of a modified rational choice and institutional literature to the puzzle of a seeming absence of state-building in Libya is first-rate and clearly demonstrates how political scientists/political economists can integrate theoretical concepts and factual material in a provocative fashion. In addition, Vandewalle writes extremely well, in a fashion that makes the theoretical material accessible even for non-specialists. This book is a real tour-de-force, recommended to anyone interested in North Africa and the Middle East and the problem of state creation in the region.

Re-interpreting and extending Douglass North and Margaret Levi's work on institutional development, Vandewalle's book on Libya is a superlative interpretation of some difficult theoretical concepts (rentier state development, institutional adapation) to one of the Middle East's least understood and studied countries. It is refreshing--and encouraging--to see a book on Libya based on actual research inside the country, based in part on extensive interviewing with several of the country's top policy-makers. The book will undoubtedly be met with a lot of cavalier criticism since it demolishes much of the hype and propaganda about the country that have been de rigueur for many of Vandewalle's colleagues much less qualified in evaluating Libya. From a social scientific viewpoint, this is a significant and important addition to the literature and anyone--whether lay person or professional academic--will profit considerably from reading this very thoughtful and courageous account of a country we know so little about--despite (or perhaps because of) all the journalistic reports that have been written. Undoubtedly the very best book I have read on Libya and North Africa since I became a student and author on the region almost four decades ago. Especially recommended for those interested in applying social scientific theories to actual case studies. Vandewalle ought to be congratulated for a difficult piece of research that goes substantially beyond what North and Levi discerned in other settings. As a professional academic writing on the region, I am awed by the theoretical and research skills of the author--almost a unicum even amidst the growing sophisticated theoretical literature on the region. Bravo!! Buy the book if you're interested in Libya, or if you want to know more about the intricate process of constructing an oil state.

While Dirk Vandewalle draws extensively from North's scholarly masterpiece on institutional development, his own work fails to break new ground on a provocative subject. Very disappointing.