My AJE Opinion piece and latest salvo against Federalism, co-authored with Ronald Bruce St John and featuring some commentary about the tough week Libya just had -- Libya's missteps threaten descent into federalism: Decentralisation in the north African state would cause strife, waste, and bloated bureaucracies.It is finally official: Libya's elections will be delayed from their scheduled date of June 19 and held on July 7. This unsurprising decision followed on the heels of the Libyan Election Commission repeatedly leaking news about a delay since late April. However, the Commission's decision to wait until the proverbial eleventh hour before announcing the delay strikes many Libyans and outside observers as representative of the National Transitional Council's (NTC) many missteps since Gaddafi's fall and their inability to establish a functioning administration.It also capped one of the least encouraging weeks in post-Gaddafi Libya's brief history. On the morning of June 5,militiamen from Tarhouna (50km south of Tripoli) stormed the international airport and President Mustafa Abdel-Jalil instantly caved into their demand that their imprisoned militia leader be released. On Tuesday night, the American Consulate in Benghazi was bombed, likely a revenge for the American assassination of top al-Qaeda official Abu Yahya Al-Libi in a drone strike in Pakistan the previous day. On Thursday, a rally of armed Salafists and Islamists took place along the waterfront in Benghazi. They were campaigning for the immediate imposition of Islamic Sharia law.Set against this background, the significance of Saturday's official postponement of the elections comes into clearer focus. The NTC is in control of neither the country nor the bureaucracy. Despite these failings, they must succeed in their most important task, their very reason d'etre: transition power to an elected government.
Libya's Missteps Threaten Descent into Federalism