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Libya
Index
Figure 11. Government Organization, June 1987
The Revolutionary Command Council (RCC)
The Constitutional Proclamation of December 11, 1969,
designated the RCC as the supreme executive and legislative
authority in Libya. The RCC itself was a collegial body in which
issues and policies were debated until enough consensus developed
to establish a unified position. As the RCC's chairman, however,
Qadhafi was the dominant figure in the revolutionary government.
Although he lacked absolute authority to impose his will on his RCC
colleagues, they generally deferred to him as the primary leader
and spokesman.
The RCC appointed the members of the Council of Ministers. The
Council of Ministers was responsible collectively to the RCC, which
could dismiss the prime minister individually or accept the
resignation of other ministers. The prime ministers's resignation
automatically caused the resignation of the entire Council of
Ministers. The Council of Ministers also was charged with executing
general policy in accordance with RCC decisions. When these
decisions required new laws, the Council of Ministers drafted
legislation for the RCC's consideration. Promulgation was by RCC
decree.
After 1969 numerous cabinet shuffles occurred, sometimes in
reaction to dissension within the Council of Ministers and threats
against the RCC and at other times in attempts to balance or modify
the mix of civilian and military members of the cabinet. Qadhafi
became prime minister in January 1970, but by 1972 he increasingly
left routine administrative tasks to another RCC member, Major
Abdel Salam Jallud (also seen as Jalloud), in order to devote
himself to revolutionary theory
(see Political Ideology
, this ch.).
In July 1972, Jallud assumed the position of prime minister. At the
time there was speculation in the foreign press that the new
Council of Ministers' composition indicated dissension within the
RCC and the diminishing of Qadhafi's authority; these notions
proved erroneous, however, at least regarding the latter point.
Qadhafi retained the positions of chairman of the RCC, commander in
chief of the armed forces, and president of the mass political
organization, the ASU, and he personally administered the oath of
office to Jallud.
Qadhafi's continuing dedication to revolutionary theorizing led
to an April 1974 decree relieving him of his other political,
administrative, and protocol duties so that he might devote all of
his time to his primary
interest. Jallud assumed the functions Qadhafi relinquished; he had
already been performing many of them unofficially. Despite the fact
that Qadhafi retained the position of commander in chief of the
armed forces, speculation again arose that his power and authority
were waning. Instead, the RCC decree appeared only to have
formalized a division of labor between Qadhafi's theoretical
interests and Jallud's practical political and administrative
interests--a division that had existed informally for some time.
Data as of 1987
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