It is likely due to the complete disconnect between state and society that the Libyan uprising has thus far been the first of the current Arab revolutions in which an opposition government has been formed before the revolution has ended. This disconnect has been reflected in three developments during this uprising, the first two of which are traceable to extreme conditions of autocratic deafness. First, unlike the cases of Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, in Libya unrestrained state violence necessitated early on that government officials’ demonstrate their moral character by quitting their posts and joining the revolution. However, as a result, the revolution had no trusted partner within the government who, as was the case in the other Arab revolts, could be relied upon to lead a transitional period. At the same time, the defection of a large number of high-ranking state officials, including members of the diplomatic corps who had close contacts with global institutions (and also the most freedom to defect), supplied the otherwise spontaneous uprising with a body of politically experienced recruits who placed a high importance on the development of institutions to support the revolution. At the same time, the opposition’s success in liberating parts of Libyan territory created a pragmatic need for a government-like structure to run and manage these areas.
In such a way, the most institutionally-developed of the Arab revolutions emerged from a state with the least amount of institutional structures. The apparent Libyan exception is, thus, not only one of violence and bloodshed. This tremendous example of indigenous organizing, arising amidst spontaneous and fearless resistance to state violence, belies Western complaints about the alleged “absence of civil society” in Libya. As Western diplomats and commentators have struggled to identify the exact character of this movement, they have missed its most crucial and illuminating element: that it represents less a specific ideology and more the forceful rebirth of modern Libya’s long repressed civic traditions. As such, out of the most desperate of circumstances, the Libyan revolt of all the Arab revolutions thus far has made the greatest leap forward.
