Madmen at the Helm, by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach, has been adopted as a required text by the University of Southern California for its Political Leadership course entitled World Political Leadership. The course, which is taught by Professor Richard Hrair Dekmejian, offers a comparative analysis of theories of power and leadership and their application to leaders from Western democracies, Third World states and Socialist countries, and examines the societal consequences of the policies that are adopted.
Tag Archives: Libya
Review of Political Alienation in Libya, by Zulaikha Abdullah for Middle East Monitor
Political Alienation in Libya: Assessing Citizens’ Political Attitude and Behaviour, by Mabroka al-Werfalli, Ithaca Press, 2012, ISBN: 9780863723728, Hardback, 240pp
This is Dr Mabrouka al-Werfalli‘s timely offering for readers to gain a better understanding of Libya’s complex political, social and economic milieu in the wake of the 2011 revolution. The detailed findings of this empirical work are corroborated by Libya’s mass uprising and the bloody ensuing battle to wrest power from a regime popularly perceived as bereft of the moral and political legitimacy to rule. As a lecturer in the Department of Political Sciences at Libya’s Garyounis University over the last two decades, Dr al-Werfalli was well-placed to analyse and discern the sources of Libya’s shift towards the political discontent, resentment and alienation which led to the ousting of the Gaddafi junta. Al-Werfalli brings the full weight of her knowledge and experience to bear in this book which could have been read as a presentiment of events that were to come.
‘Political Alienation in Libya’ began as a first of its kind PhD research survey in 2001 to gauge local attitudes and behaviour toward the Gaddafi regime. Findings from the survey were developed subsequently into the book in its current form; it was completed in 2008
The book seeks to explore the relationship between popular recognition of a regime’s legitimacy and levels of political alienation, defined as a conscious rejection of the entire political system, by the population it purports to represent. Previous studies into the political legitimacy of Middle Eastern regimes have tended to approach the question on a systematic level. Conversely, ‘Political Alienation in Libya’ suggests consideration of the micro-level in efforts to conceptualise legitimacy and alienation as well as how to organise research into the subject. Accordingly, it represents a relevant and fresh contribution to research and understandings.
A Review on Political Alienation in Libya
Political Alienation in Libya: Assessing Citizens’ Political Attitude and Behaviour, by Mabroka al-Werfalli, Ithaca Press, 2012, ISBN: 9780863723728, Hardback, 240pp
The book is very useful to learn more about Libya’s modern history and to understand how Gaddafi’s regime originally claimed its legitimacy, managed to stay in power for so long and how the people’s suffering had to lead to the recent uprising and new independence that we’ve just witnessed. Source: Nahla Ink Online Journal 27 October 2011
Review and In Conversation with the Author
The Libyan academic, Mabroka Al-Wefalli, took a big personal risk when she first conducted a local survey in 2001, to question the Libyan respondents’ attitude towards their political regime and participation – or lack thereof – in the system’s so-called grassroots democratic organs. She also examined their views as to how the regime must legitimize its rule – or not – to remain in place for the foreseeable future.
As she explains to Nahla Ink: “From the early 1990s, I observed as a teacher at the political science department at the University of Garyounis, that criticism of Colonel Gaddafi’s regime was secretly increasing. But the method of expressing resentment, under such a coercive regime, was not only by withdrawing from political participation and deserting the basic popular congresses, but also by a growing sort of silent resistance; a political behavior that associates with political alienation.”
Taking months just to get a security permit to distribute her questionnaire in the Al-Orouba district in Benghazi, Werfalli found people quite unwilling, resisting and suspicious of her motives. She had to use her social clout and family connections to gain trust in people; and, even so, when she got her results, she had to flee the country to avoid her work being confiscated and compromised.
Completing the PhD dissertation from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter in 2005, she turned it into a book in 2008 and only recently published it with a great Afterward. It comes at a perfect time for those who wish to understand the underlying political, economic and social forces that led to the current Revolution. She says: “The Libyan armed revolution has actually confirmed my findings. I had hoped that the Libyan regime would make use of the information in the book before it was too late.”
The book identifies theoretic and practical links between legitimacy and political alienation – or lack of participation – and questions the regime’s organs of government. Drawing on socio-political theory and Max Weber, it looks back to the 1969 coup and how Gaddafi had revolutionary and charismatic legitimacy to begin with; as he then reflected people’s sentiments towards pan-Arabism, anti-Zionism and anti-Imperialism and rode high on the Egyptian Jamal Abdul-Nasser’s popularity and influence.
A Review on Political Alienation in Lybia: Book offers clues to Libyan politics after Gadhafi (United Press International)
Political Alienation in Libya: Assessing Citizens’ Political Attitude and Behaviour, by Mabroka al-Werfalli, Ithaca Press, 2012, ISBN: 9780863723728, Hardback, 240pp
Source: United Press International
LONDON, Oct. 14 (UPI) — NATO decision-makers hoping to forge a democratic and stable Libya after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi need to read “Political Alienation in Libya,” a new book analyzing the North African country shortly before the disastrous showdown that triggered the U.N.-mandated European intervention.
Political alienation was so widespread in Libya under Gadhafi that the outcome since the NATO bombing campaign began, the gradual crumbling of the strongman’s regime and the emergence of the National Transitional Council are hardly surprising, the book says.
Author Mabroka al-Werfalli, who teaches political science at the University of Garyounis in Benghazi, used different polling methods against heavy odds to gather opinions in Libya under Gadhafi.
She found public participation in Gadhafi’s Basic Popular Congresses, the regional and town-based political cells used by the regime to advance its aims, declined sharply as public alienation grew.
Even those who took part in the congresses’ activities did so out of fear of losing favor with Gadhafi’s political elite.
“From the findings it is clear that political alienation, defined as the conscious rejection of the whole political system, is the prevailing condition in Libyan society,” al-Werfalli writes.
In the run-up to Gadhafi’s downfall, she found through surveys that feelings of alienation were widespread among Libyans because of authoritarian control, marginalization of citizens and institutions of political participation, and a destructive censoring of opinions and attitudes.
In her book, al-Werfalli offers insight into the political mindset of the Libyan people in the lead up to the protests and the resulting civil war.
The resulting apathy was not evidence of loyalty but of estrangement. The methods adopted by citizens to express their resentment under coercion included not only retreat from the political processes but also silent resistance.
The book concludes with the final stages of Gadhafi’s rule and outlines not only the government’s slide from legitimacy but also its last-ditch attempts for survival and reform under Gadhafi’s son Saif al-Islam.
“Saif al-Islam outlined plans for Libya to move from autocratic rule to a constitutional democracy as part of the country’s modernization process,” writes al-Werfalli. “He emerges as the only actor who has managed to criticize the malfunctions of the regime without being punished” by his father.
In the aftermath of Gadhafi’s crackdown on popular uprisings, Saif al-Islam is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity against the Libyan people, including torture and killing of civilians.
Unconfirmed rebel reports claim Gadhafi is being protected by a loyalist tribe and Saif al-Islam is holding out in Sirte, one of the last strongholds of his regime.
The NTC leadership that succeeded Gadhafi is facing criticism that it has used tactics familiar to victims of Gadhafi and calls to reform its ranks to suit democratic ideals expected of its leadership.
Not loyal but estranged; a study of the Libyan political mindset and its repercussions
Political Alienation in Libya: Assessing Citizens’ Political Attitude and Behaviour, by Mabroka al-Werfalli, Ithaca Press, 2012, ISBN: 9780863723728, Hardback, 240pp
Ithaca Press is pleased to announce the publication of Political Alienation in Libya by Mabroka al-Werfalli. This highly topical and up-to-the-minute publication should appeal to followers of contemporary politics who value a more in-depth consideration of how the current climactic situation in Libya has come about. The book provides a unique insight into the political mindset of the Libyan people, which has led up to the 2011 protests and the resulting civil war.
The book is an assessment of Libyan citizens’ political attitudes and behaviour, and features interviews and surveys of Libyan people from across the board, thus presenting a true cross-section of the nation’s political mindset.
