Stefano Marcuzzi - The EU, NATO and the Libya Conflict: Anatomy of a Failure

The EU, NATO and the Libya Conflict

This book explores the causes and implications of the Libyan crisis since the anti-Gaddafi uprisings of 2011 from the perspective of the EU and NATO.

It asks the question of why those organizations failed to stabilize the country despite the serious challenges posed by the protracted crisis to European and transatlantic stakes in the region. This book argues that such failure originated in a twofold problem common to both organizations: their prioritization of legitimacy over strategy, and their path dependence the insufficient degree of adaptation to meet the different needs of the crisis. Through a critical and integrated analysis of official sources and extensive interviews with EU, NATO, UN and national government officials and militaries, as well as from NGO personnel, Libyan institutions and civil society, and media, the volume brings the perspective of both state and non-state actors to the fore. It reveals how wrong assumptions and centrifugal forces within the EU and NATO hampered initiatives and how the inability to use hard power judiciously and effectively in an increasingly complex and multifaceted scenario worsened the crisis. This allowed for unprecedented influence of regional and global competitors such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey and Russia in the richest African country.

This book will be of key interest for scholars and students of Libya and North Africa, NATO, the European Union, security and conflict studies, Middle East studies, migration, terrorism, peacebuilding and, more broadly, international relations.

Stefano Marcuzzi is Marie Curie Fellow at University College Dublin, Ireland, Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Europe, Brussels, Belgium and Emerging Challenges Analyst at the NATO Defense College Foundation, Rome, Italy.

This series addresses the standard range of conceptual and theoretical questions related to European foreign policy. At the same time, in response to the intensity of new policy developments, it endeavours to ensure that it also has a topical flavour, addressing the most important and evolving challenges to European foreign policy, in a way that will be relevant to the policy-making and think-tank communities.

Series Editors: Richard Whitman, University of Kent, UK, and Richard Youngs, University of Warwick, UK.

European Identities and Foreign Policy Discourses on Russia
From the Ukraine to the Syrian Crisis
Marco Siddi

The EU in Southeast Asian Security
The Role of External Perceptions
Ronja Scheler

EU Regional Trade Agreements
An Instrument of Promoting the Rule of Law to Third States
Maryna Rabinovych

The European Union and Chinas Belt and Road
Impact, Engagement and Competition
Edited by Vassilis Ntousas and Stephen Minas

The EU as a State-builder in International Affairs
The Case of Kosovo
Labinot Greievci

The EU, NATO and the Libya Conflict
Anatomy of a Failure
Stefano Marcuzzi

For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-European-Foreign-Policy/book-series/RSEFP

The EU, NATO and the Libya Conflict

Anatomy of a Failure

Stefano Marcuzzi

First published 2022
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2022 Stefano Marcuzzi

The right of Stefano Marcuzzi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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ISBN: 978-0-367-54551-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-54949-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-09127-1 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003091271

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

PART I
Responsibility to protect

PART II
Responsibility to rebuild

EU and NATO memberships on the eve of the Libya conflict

Main Libyan tribes and ethnic groups

The Libyan uprisings between 17 and 24 February 2011

Gaddafis counterattack, 26 February18 March 2011

The EUs paralysis during the 2011 Libyan conflict

NATOs strategic conundrum during the 2011 Libyan campaign

The Libyan rebels close in on the last loyalist strongholds, AugustOctober 2011

The Libyan dilemma in the transition years (20122014)

The EU dilemma in transition Libya (20122014)

The NATO dilemma in transition Libya (20122014)

The EU dilemma in post-Skhirat Libya (20152016)

The NATO dilemma in post-Skhirat Libya (20152016)

Libyas fragmentation (20152018)

The EUs containment course in Libya (20172018)

NATOs containment course in Libya (20172018)

Haftars offensive on Tripoli (2019)

The GNA counteroffensive, spring 2020

The EU dilemma during the war for Tripoli (20192020)

NATOs dilemma during the war for Tripoli (20192020)

The Libyan chiaroscuro

NATO nations & partners training activities

Main Libyan militias, 20122014

Tribal support for federalism and Jadhran

A sample of the General Command leadership of the LAAF and its (Bedouin) tribal patronage network on the eve of the Tripoli war (2019)

This book is the product of my three-year Marie Curie Co-Fund CAROLINE fellowship at University College Dublin (UCD). I wish to thank first of all my academic mentor, Ben Tonra, who supported this project from the onset and provided regular feedback and suggestions, not least by challenging some of my arguments. His contribution has been simply invaluable, and working with him has been a pleasure and a privilege. I am also grateful to the UCD staff and the Irish Research Council for having provided critical technical and logistical support throughout the fellowship.

The fieldwork for this project was based on partnerships with Carnegie Europe, Brussels, and the NATO Defense College Foundation (NDCF), Rome. My 18 months at Carnegie have been one of the most stimulating and productive periods of my career. I was honored to join the Carnegie family and learn from a number of incredibly talented and experienced think tankers and scholars. My mentor there, Marc Pierini, provided unique insights into Turkish foreign policy. Director Tomas Valasek was key in my understanding of NATO mechanisms. Richard Youngs, Pierre Vimont, Frederic Wehrey, Yezid Sayigh and Dalia Ghanem very generously shared their knowledge of EU, Libyan and Middle Eastern dynamics. Deputy Director Lizza Bomassi was just superb in helping me integrate with the rest of the team and in supporting my project activities, including the event we organized on Libya in 2019. The other members of the staff, especially Marta Natalini, Eleonora Moschini, Maria Koomen, Liza Kurukulasuriya and Francesco Siccardi, were always ready to help.