Fathi Ali, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Benghazi and former Vice President of the Presidential Council of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), published a chapter entitled 'The economic agenda of violence and its role in the continuation of conflicts and civil wars: a study of the Libyan case' in the book Human Rights and Justice Challenges in Libya: 10 Years after the Revolution, released by the Center for Human Rights Defender Association (CHRDA) in February 2022. Ali presented a political economy analysis of Libya's civil conflict beginning in 2011, asserting that armed groups in Libya adopted an economic agenda for violence, which will continue to prolong and sustain conflict in the country. Ali explains how the economic agenda that emerged in post-Qadhafi Libya is rooted in the security sector's collapse; in lieu of the Transitional Council and authorities failing to fill a security vacuum, armed groups were formed and began receiving funding from the state while remaining relatively autonomous. Ali argues these armed groups thus are economically inclined to prolong and sustain conflict in Libya that prevents the reformation of the security sector and ensures they will continue to receive payments. Ali concludes that any successful attempts to end conflict and violence in Libya must address this economic agenda and work to undermine the financial gains armed groups receive from prolonged conflict while making the cost of using violence too high a price for them to pay.
Read the chapter here.