Thoughts on Alison Pargeter's "Libya: The Rise and Fall of Qaddafi," (2012)
Book Thoughts: Middle Eastern History; 20th - 21st Centuries
Alison Pargeter, Libya: The Rise and Fall of Qaddafi (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), pgs. 304.
Sometimes you read a book that is so well written and compelling you do not want to put it down. Achieving this type of writing with a non-fiction book can be a herculean task, particularly when the author strives to avoid taking liberties with the thoughts and intents of those whom he/she are writing about. Alison Pargeter, an independent writer and policy expert on the Middle East who has provided hundreds of policy briefs to UK officials achieved that with her book Libya: The Rise and Fall of Qaddafi (2012). Published a year after the tumultuous Arab Spring had finished off the Gaddafi (or Qaddafi) regime and the man himself, the book provides an in-depth exploration of Libya and the rise of Muammar Gaddafi. Published through the prestigious Yale University Press, Pargeter demonstrates her academic abilities in comprehensive analysis and sourcing. As noted previously, the book is extremely well written, and though I was reading the book for a work project, it was fascinating to learn much about a topic I was largely illiterate on. Reviewers with far greater expertise in the field have already added their insights on the book (see for example Hugh Roberts, “Review” and Jaques Roumani, “Review”).1 Due to my lack of knowledge in Libyan history, I will instead focus this review on the general impressions and ideas I had as I read.
One reoccurring thought I had as I read was that Pargeter was hesitant to critique Gaddafi’s socialist system. People have varying beliefs on the efficacy of socialism, with many good willed (and not so good willed) people having legitimate defenses and critiques of it. My instincts to mistrust socialism and eye it warily as a threat to liberty and community institutions colored my own reading of Pargeter’s text. However, as an author, Pargeter seemed leery of extending the implications of Gaddafi’s policies of socialism to the actual tragedy occurring throughout Libya. While she was strident in critiquing and at times mocking Gaddafi’s philosophy, it seemed that Pargeter viewed the failings as a result of the incongruencies and radical personality of Gaddafi himself, rather than perhaps stemming from the system he sought to create. I found reading through her narrative a different message from the events; that socialism can enable tyrants to control and manipulate their people by making them solely dependent on the state for survival. In a benign state, socialism has many advantages (though well-reasoned thinkers/authors have shown all is not so rosy as may at first appear) that seem to outweigh any risks. However, reading of the transformation of Libya, the control Gaddafi wielded was so enduring in part because of the socialized system which inhibited the people from opposing the hand that fed them. I am not a fan of unrestricted capitalism. Many critiques can fairly be leveled at it, particularly when a society’s moral institutions have crumbled. However, too often in academy it seems that there is a tendency to “circle the wagons” around this cherish economic system, with, as it appears to me, many avoiding discussing the thorny problems that accompany such an economic system. Pargeter is no exception to this.
To me, a slightly humorous episode from the book is the author’s clear disdain of Ronald Reagan. While she explained and situated Gaddafi in the context of his life and often failed to name leaders of nations that opposed Gaddafi, simply referring to them broadly as “officials,” signifying that she recognized the complexity of decision-making that rarely in most modern Western states stems from a single individual, she appears to have made an exception for Reagan. From Pargeter’s interpretation, Reagan singlehandedly dictated American policy during the 1980s and carried on a personal vendetta against the Libyan dictator. It was almost comical to read her attempting to frame Reagan as a antagonist of the narrative. Gaddafi’s support of terrorism is carefully shrouded in a haze of academic hesitancy. The “hawkish” Reagan was the instigator of the 1980s problems in Libya, not the supporter of terrorists. Pargeter has continued the noble academic practice of vilifying Reagan and illustrating how wrong the Americans of the 1980s were in choosing him as president.2
There are other issues that could be discussed, however it should be noted that the overall gist of the book allows for a easy to read understanding of the rise and fall of Gaddafi. I recommend it to the reader who is new to Libyan history and one that opens up a new and tragic world to the reader’s understanding.
Robert Swanson
Hugh Roberts, “Review,” International Affairs 88, No. 6 (Nov. 2012), 1366-1367; Jacques Roumani, “Review,” Middle East Journal 67, No. 1 (Winter 2013), 148-150. Of the two, Roberts is far more critical (at times a bit unfairly) of Pargeter’s work.
For those interested in a video of Reagan discussing the strike on Gaddafi see:
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/26421218