Tribal Political Culture and the Revolution in the Cyrenaica of Libya

Description

This paper explores basic patterns of the recent political culture in the Cyrenaica region of Libya
with special regard to the revolutionary events that began in February 2011. The political culture
in Cyrenaica is shaped by the heterarchy of tribal, state like, Islamic and civil urban forms of political organisation.                                                                                                                                            This comprises varying political practices and rationales as well as different
conceptions of power, rule and also of legitimacy. The concept of ‘heterarchy’ or ‘heterarchisation’
of political orders (Hüsken/Klute 2010) describes the plurality of competing power foci in Libya. The
paper will argue that tribal and extended family politics play a key role in this setting. The paper is
based on three extensive field studies and participant observation in Cyrenaica between
February and September 2011.