Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 11/2011

The Libyan War: A Diplomatic History February - August 2011

Emily O’Brien, Andrew Sinclair

August 2011

Center on International Cooperation

Abstract

Some crises flare up and are forgotten fairly quickly. Others offer lasting insights into the global balance of power and the state of international diplomacy. The Libyan crisis falls into the second category. In a period in which serious commentators dwell on “the decline of the West” and “the erosion of the post-Cold War order”, the war has been both a test of Western military might and international cooperation. There have been multiple surprises. A pundit who predicted in January 2011 that NATO was about to embark on a new war involving a Muslim country would have been dismissed. But it would have seem equally outlandish to suggest that China and Russia might permit Western military actions against an Arab leader to win a UN mandate, let alone that the Arab League would actively support this outcome. Wellestablished assumptions about the evolution of the international system in the wake of Iraq and the financial crisis have been found wanting.