After the Arab Spring: power shift in the Middle East?: Libya: defining its future

The international community is approaching the anniversary of its intervention in Libya last year. What started as a protest for greater rights and democracy quickly transformed into a military uprising against a vicious dictator intent on suppressing a revolution with every brutal means at his disposal. The conflict was distinct from other uprisings elsewhere in the region for three principal reasons: first, the brutality with which Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime responded; second, the audacity, tenacity and speed with which the Libyan people became militarily organised and capable of exploiting Gaddafi’s disintegrating military; and third, the involvement of the international community, in the form of the NATO alliance that was backed up by Arab support, particularly from the Gulf state of Qatar.