THE ROLE OF THE UNITED STATE’S GOVERNMENT IN REGIME CHANGE AND NEOLIBERAL REFORMS IN LIBYA
ABSTRACT
The study investigated the link between U.S AID and politics of regime change in Libya. It also explores the strategic interest of the west in Libya and its reliance on the instrumentality of NATO to drive the interest of US foreign policy. This study focused on the uprising that took place in Libya in 2011. In exploring the perimeters to which sovereignty can be exercised in interstate raised conflicts, the study also investigated how changing political realities and international norms enabled external interventions that were previously unthinkable. The methodology underpinning the research is essentially descriptive, thus, deductive logical content analysis is employed. The power theory was used as our framework of analyzing the championing of the NATO allied forces Aid interventionist mission in Libya. That to the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi under the aegis of responsibility to protect however the manner of the engagement by US and NATO led external forces in the fight for regime change in Libya leaves much to be desired. We argue that NATO’s military intervention in Libya occasioned specific violations of UN resolution 1973 in Libya, especially the “Responsibility to protect” mandate. NATO armed anti-Gaddafi rebels and conducted series of indiscrimate airstrikes which resulted the cataclysmic decimate of several lives and property. The study recommended that UN except in proven cases of genocide should avoid the employment of force in the settlement of internal dispute. This will encourage parties to the dispute to employ diplomacy and dialogue rather than violence with the hope of attracting humanitarian Aid intervention of powerful states. Also the United Nations should equally rise up to the challenges of international security so as not give room for some western countries who hide under the pretext of implementing UN resolutions, to pursue their private and most times selfish economic and political interests. Our conclusion was also anchored on the findings of the study.
Keywords: NATO, United Natiopns, Responsibility to Protect, Strategic Interest, Libya.