The perils of capitalist modernity for the Global South: the case of Libya

Abstract

Academic analyses of the 2011 protests in Libya often isolate them from the US-led imperialist system and the dynamics of the world market. Drawing on a collection of interviews, archival documents, and secondary sources, this article examines the social imaginaries for Libya’s future from the late 1980s. These were largely constructed from ideals of individual freedom, consumerism, and the success story of Dubai. The article demonstrates how these everyday imaginaries of the ‘good life’ mirrored the gradual reintegration of the Libyan social formation – and its ruling class – into the global capitalist economy during the struggle against US-led imperialism under the threat of war and sanctions. Dissecting the role of these cultural experiences in the Libyan microcosm, the article contributes to the debate on cultural political economy and imperialism in relation to the Global South. It shows the inherent limits to mobilising for political change in the periphery of the world where a framework upholding capitalist modernity emerged as an alternative to socio-economic inequalities and failing infrastructural development.

Keywords:

• Arab uprisings
• capitalist modernity
• cultural political economy
• Global South
• Libya
• US-led imperialism

Acknowledgments

I am highly indebted to all the Libyans who have shared with me their unique political insights. This article reflects our numerous engagements and disagreements. My sincere thanks to Walaa Alqaisiya, Eric Hooglund, Lillian Frost, Younes Lahwej, and the POMEPS network for commenting on multiple versions of this paper. Finally, I am very grateful for the comments provided by three anonymous reviewers, and for the supportive and meticulous guidance that editor Aida Hozic offered throughout the review process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 While this is not the focus of the article, it is worthwhile to stress that other cultural and political positions emerged during my interviews. For instance, many Libyans saw the NATO-led military intervention as the umpteenth interference of the West in the country’s affairs yet failed to acknowledge the increasing repressive and illegitimate character of the government.

2 In this article, the term ‘capitalist modernity’ refers to the wealth of ideas and values upholding capitalism as the most apt political path for satisfying human material needs and for advancing individual freedom and agency.

3 These interviews were part of a larger research project analysing the everyday politics in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977-2011). I met Libyans between 20 and 60 years old, all men except for three women, and interviewed them in the UK, Italy and online; all of them had left Libya in the aftermath of 2011 because of the country’s instability or in pursuit of academic/professional opportunities abroad. Since the interviews, 45 interviewees have returned to Libya. At the time of writing, five interviewees have died as collateral victims of airstrikes in 2020.

4 While the 1973 oil embargo provided a unique moment for many Arab countries and OPEC members to turn oil into a powerful foreign policy weapon, it also sanctioned the beginning of a new globalized regime of oil production, and the change of US policy toward the region. The introduction of a market-oriented control of oil prices did not allow many Arab states to maintain control over prices; and the increasing military-security alliance of the US with Saudi Arabia (and the Gulf monarchies) created tensions and divisions between them and the Arab progressive republics.

5 It is interesting to note that some scholarly analyses of the impact of sanctions on Libya (O’Sullivan, 2003; Vandewalle, 2016), similar to CIA reports, impute economic difficulties to the bizarre procurements of weapons under imperialist assault, while avoiding discussion of the engineered recycling of Gulf state petrodollars into arms deals and US treasury bonds.

6 To gauge the extent of the impact of international sanctions on Libyan industrial/health/infrastructure sectors, see the collection of reports and letters submitted by the representative Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to the United Nations Secretary General (in both English and Arabic), that is, S/23915/1992; S/24428/1992; S/1994/921; S/1995/226; S/1996/717; S/1997/404; S/1999/457. See also (CIA 1987).

7 The report contains the most important points of Tomorrow's Libya in terms of economic reforms (see Porter & Yergin, 2006).

8 As Kadri outlines (2015), much of regional oil revenues, especially in the Gulf, fly abroad in US T-bills, affluent consumption, and military and regime security spending (defence spending alone is twice the world share from GDP, according to the World Bank, with American military aid to the Arab region ranking highest).

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Notes on contributors

Matteo Capasso

Matteo Capasso holds a Marie Curie Global Fellowship between Ca’ Foscari, University of Venice, and Columbia University, NY. His research examines the impact of US-led imperialism towards countries of the Global South, with a current focus on Libya.