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Dispute Settlement in Libya: The Role of the Arab League
Abstract
The ongoing armed conflicts in Libya, Syria, and Yemen –erupted in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings – have created a complex environment where regional and international actors are present. In the case of the Libyan conflict, the focus of this paper, a number of regional organizations including the League of Arab States, the African Union, NATO at the beginning of the conflict in 2011, the EU and the UNSC in addition to state actors have been involved in mediation and attempts of conflict resolution. The presence of various actors has created what is referred to in the literature as a regime complex or institutional overlap (Alter & Raustiala, 2018; Hofmann 2009, 2011, & 2018). Such overlap between regional organizations, at least theoretically, puts pressure on the overlapping institutions to maintain their legitimacy as a relevant forum. Contrary to the common view in the literature that the Arab League is a dead organization, the League has managed to survive such complexity and stay a key regional actor in the dispute settlement and mediation efforts of the Libyan conflict. This paper addresses the following questions: Why is the League still a relevant actor despite the presence of other regional forums such as the African Union that could play a more active role given its mandate and dispute settlement mechanisms? And how did the League manage to survive such overlap and stay relevant? Through the use of discourse analysis of the statements and resolutions issued by the League on the Libyan conflict and expert interviews, the paper presents an analysis of the role played by the Arab League in attempting to resolve or mediate the Libyan conflict. The argument of the paper is that in such a complex environment the League has managed to remain relevant by leveraging its competitive advantages such as the identity of the organization, and the Secretary-General’s diplomacy to survive the crowdedness of actors involved. The paper assesses the role of the Arab League as a mediator in a contemporary conflict where its role is hardly analyzed. It also contributes to our understanding of inter-organizational relations and dynamics in a region that has a highly complex security environment because of the involvement of various regional and international actors. Finally, the paper contributes to the literature of inter-organizational relations and institutional overlap by presenting an empirical case study of an organization and a region, which are not commonly studied.
Discipline
International Relations/Affairs
Geographic Area
Libya
Sub Area
None