Libya and the Global Enduring Disorder

The world seems to have gone directly from a hegemonic US-led international system to an interregnum in the global order. The traditional phase of multipolarity—or restoration of the balance of power, or even a struggle among rival systems of order has been skipped. Jason Pack's new book which launches in the UK the week of this event and in the US in February 2022, Libya and the Global Enduring Disorder (Hurst/Oxford University Press) presents the Libya conflict as an ideal microcosm for examining the collective failures typical of our new geopolitics. More so than civil wars in Yemen, Syria, Venezuela, or Ukraine, Libya’s ongoing crisis constitutes the ideal microcosm in which to identify the salient features, and likely outcomes, of this new era of geopolitics. The country’s post-Qadhafi trajectory has been molded by the stark absence of coherent international diplomacy; while Libya’s incremental implosion has precipitated cross-border contagion, further corroding global institutions and international coordination.

Please join Pack as he introduces the key themes of his book and former UN Acting Special Envoy to Libya Stephanie Williams and senior research fellow Tim Eaton as they share the dilemmas they faced coordinating international policy and how they shed light on the concept of the "Enduring Disorder".

Delving into specific test cases, especially the ongoing chaos surrounding Libya's scheduled December 24 election, the panel will discuss how the Biden Administration's policy towards Afghanistan and the Middle East in general and Libya in particular highlight where today's geopolitics seems to be headed and the collective actions challenges that undergird all of today's major global challenges from climate change, to tax havens, to Libya's transition.

For more background, Jason Pack's recent piece in Foreign Policy offers an overview of the Enduring Disorder concept: "Libya’s Chaos Is a Warning to the World" in Foreign Policy.