International Actors’ Rule of Law Development Approaches in Post-Qaddafi Libya: When Top-down “Best Practices” Meet the Legacies of Protracted Conflict

Irene Lizzola (1)

1 LAM - Les Afriques dans le monde

Despite the long-lasting efforts made by the international community to re-establish stability, rule of law and a process of political and inter-communal reconciliation in the country, Libya has been a theatre of protracted conflict at least until last October, when the parties finally agreed on a ceasefire. In Libya, the prerogative of searching for a political consensus after decades of fragmentation and fragilization of the social fabric – a consensus which is essential in preparation for the elections – seems to be achievable only by reconstructing a strong and unified country – autonomous from those external influences destabilising and hampering Libyan State’s control over the economy and the natural resources – and by making this renewed central State responsible of introducing economic policies fostering development, reconstruction and an effective delivery of public services. In this context, rule of law and economic development are seen by international actors as two interconnected (and “integrated”) domains of intervention. In order for international actors to develop assessments and interventions based on an accurate knowledge of the past and present patterns of the conflict, it appears as fundamental for them to identify those root causes that provoked and exacerbated the conflict dynamics. In Libya, international actors engaged in strengthening the rule of law in Libya focused more on capacity-building for the existing institutions rather than addressing more structural issues such as the lacking “access to justice and legal empowerment of the poor” – in spite of the fact that dealing with this aspect would have been more in line with the needs of the “demand side” of the rule of law interventions.

Mots clés: "Libya"; "Rule of Law"; "Development"; "International Actors"

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Irene Lizzola. International Actors’ Rule of Law Development Approaches in Post-Qaddafi Libya: When Top-down “Best Practices” Meet the Legacies of Protracted Conflict. 2021, http://www.thesquarecentre.org/2021/07/03/international-actors-rule-of-law-development-approaches-in-post-qaddafi-libya-when-top-down-best-practices-meet-the-legacies-of-protracted-conflict/. ⟨hal-03326521⟩