The 2011 Libyan Civil War: From the four-decade Qaddafi rule to the French-led NATO intervention

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate the exceptional case of the 2011 Libyan civil war, in which both a revolution and a foreign intervention took place, from a historical perspective based mainly on qualitative content analysis. In this regard, this thesis takes a deeper look at the events unfolding in Libya before and after the crisis erupted as well as analyzes the internal reasons behind the uprising and then its evolution into a civil war, the limits and excesses of the international response to the crisis in Libya within the context of the „responsibility to protect‟ doctrine and its possible future uses, and lastly, the way in which France was involved in the Libyan civil war and how the French national interests curtailed the Libyan peoples‟ efforts for a true revolution.