This paper explores the relationships between the Libyan state and society, and the ways in which these dynamics affected the subsequent civil wars in 2011 and onwards. Beyond the commonly-studied impact of oil and state rentierism, this paper demonstrates that the enduring centralization of the state, Gaddafi’s dystopian governance system, the socio-economic and political cultures pre-2011, and the interplay between local systems of legitimacy and central authority have played an underappreciated role in the contemporary Libyan landscape. The continuities and discontinuities of order that defined and characterized the Libyan state before and after 2011 are thus dissected. An exploration of the appositeness of Eurocentric theories of statehood to the Libyan landscape unveils the pillars of legitimacy that defined Libyan statehood pre-Gaddafi. This sheds light both on how the Gaddafi regime sought to control society by often manipulating these pillars and on the ways in which Libyan society either directly and indirectly resisted his rule or rested in complacency. This covert resistance, which turned overt, widespread, and violent in 2011, paved the way for a discursive mutation of “tribalism.” This notion morphed from one of a group behavioral binding mechanism tied to blood lineage into one underpinned by notions of solidarity that override kinship. This analysis in turn elucidates the precarity of the Libyan state and explains the subsequent turmoil in the country post-2011, characterized notably by the emergence of armed non-state actors. A key discontinuity identified is in the realm of foreign influencers that have exploited long-standing domestic grievances and weaponized Libya’s traditional pillars of legitimacy, thus tearing at its society’s social fabric.

本文探讨了利比亚国家与社会之间的关系，以及这些动态影响了随后的2011年及以后的内战的方式。除了对石油和国家食欲主义的普遍研究影响之外，本文还证明了国家的持久集权，卡扎菲的反乌托邦治理体系，2011年前的社会经济和政治文化以及地方合法性与中央权威之间的相互作用在当代利比亚风光中扮演了被忽视的角色。因此，剖析了在2011年之前和之后定义和表征利比亚状态的秩序的连续性和不连续性。对以欧洲为中心的国家地位理论对利比亚景观的适用性的探索揭示了合法性的基础，这些合法性定义了卡扎菲之前的利比亚国家地位。这既阐明了卡扎菲政权如何通过经常操纵这些支柱来试图控制社会，也阐明了利比亚社会直接或间接抵制其统治或自满的方式。这种秘密抵抗在2011年变得公开，广泛和暴力，为“部落主义”的话语突变铺平了道路。这一概念从与血统联系在一起的一种行为约束机制演变为一种以超越血缘关系的团结观念为基础的观念。这种分析反过来阐明了利比亚国家的the可危，并解释了该国2011年后的动荡，尤其以武装非国家行为者的出现为特征。