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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Libya
Index
A young Berber woman
LIBYAN SOCIETY IN the late 1980s was in a state of transition from
one set of structures and values to another. For nearly two decades
the country's leader, Muammar al Qadhafi, had sought to transform
Libya from an underdeveloped backwater into a modern socialist
state compatible with the dictates of the Quran and the heritage of
Islam. The regime's policies and goals often aroused controversy as
the country moved away from the Libyan-Arab mold of the past in
which heredity and patronage determined social distinction and
toward the new egalitarian society that was the Qadhafi regime's
ideal.
The changes the society was undergoing were made possible in
large measure by petroleum wealth, which had converted the country
from one of the world's poorest at the time of independence in 1951
to one of the most prosperous. By the 1980s, most Libyans enjoyed
educational opportunities, health care, and housing that were among
the best in Africa and the Middle East. Responsibility for the care
of the old and the needy had been largely shifted from the extended
family to a comprehensive system of social security. Education and
medical care were free, and when necessary the state subsidized
housing and other necessities. Life expectancy, perhaps the
ultimate measure of living standards, had lengthened by ten years
since 1960, and social mobility was much improved.
In 1984 the population reached 3.6 million and was growing at
about 4 percent a year, one of the highest rates in the world.
Unlike its neighbors, the Libyan government welcomed this rate of
growth, which it hoped would eventually remedy the country's
shortage of labor. The population was overwhelmingly concentrated
along the Mediterranean coast, much of it around Benghazi and
Tripoli. Villagers and rural tribesmembers continued to migrate to
cities and towns, seeking better-paying jobs in industry or in the
service sector of the modern economy. The number of jobs far
exceeded the number of qualified Libyans; consequently, the
population included at least 260,000 expatriate workers who were
essential for the functioning of the economy.
Roughly one-half of the population was under the age of
fifteen. The prospects for future employment and a fruitful life
were such that Libyan youth for the most part were not the
discontented lot found elsewhere in North Africa.
The status of women continued to undergo modification at the
behest of the revolution's leaders. Especially in urban areas,
women in ever- greater numbers were entering schools and the
universities and finding employment in professions newly opened to
them. Although tradition remained quite strong, the role of women
was in the midst of what was for Libya a remarkable transformation.
In spite of the gains of the revolution, however, Libyan
society was deeply divided. Little sense of national unity,
identity, or purpose had developed, and the old ethnic and
geographic divisions among Cyrenaica, Fezzan, and Tripolitania were
still very evident. Alienation from the Qadhafi regime and its
policies was widespread, a sentiment reinforced by shortages of
consumer goods and by persistent exhortations to participate in
governing the country. Whole segments of the populace were so
disaffected that they either did not participate or did so only
minimally, retreating into apathy and private matters. Qadhafi's
campaign to discredit Islamic authorities and creeds and to enlist
young women in the armed forces similarly offended Libyan
sensitivities.
Most foreign observers believed that the regime faced a
difficult task in convincing the majority of Libyans of the need
for further social change. In the 1980s, Libyan society remained
profoundly conservative and resistant to the impulses for change
that emanated from its leaders. The wisdom of current social
policies was being questioned, and it was obvious that many Libyans
were not enthusiastic about the course of action that the
revolutionary government had laid out.
Data as of 1987
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