Two years after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gadhafi, Libya's political freedom ranking increased slightly to a four on a scale of one to seven, though individual freedoms are still restricted. While people can vote and freedom of speech has improved, religious freedom is limited, women's rights are circumscribed, and the transitional government struggles to exert control as militias continue to wield influence and make their own rules. Overall, Libya has not fully established a stable and democratic government due to ongoing challenges transitioning from Gadhafi's authoritarian regime.
2. Unbiased view on this topic
Attempt to “play the devil’s advocate”
Highlighting the pros and cons of every ideology and
system implemented by the government
5. Two short years after the death and dethroning of
tyrant Muammar Gadhafi, the country's political
freedom rank has increased to a four on the
freedomhouse.org freedom scale.
Granted, this is still not incredibly high on the scale
and is only a marginal improvement because of how
badly it was rated in years prior.
6. In March 2013, a representative of the government
called for a ban on women marrying foreign men and
woman mixing with men in the workplace because it
encouraged “unethical behavior”. Also, only 83% of
woman over the age of 15 can read. This shows that
woman do not get the same kind of education as men.
7. Libya’s stance on Religious freedom is a tricky one. On
one hand they accept religions other than Islam. Yet
on the other hand they criminalize the proselytizing
(the changing of one religion to another) of
Muslim people. Another prohibited religious
activity is the reproduction and importing of
bibles. Mixed message???
8. One point that must be kept in mind is that Libya is a
97% Islamic nation meaning that the government
must follow the Islam guidelines. Many of the Islamic
beliefs are controversial and can sometimes be
restrictive on people (woman especially). With this in
mind, it is difficult for the government to completely
disregard the book that nearly everyone follows in
their country.
Taking credit away from the government is how the
allow so little individual freedom. Individual freedom
is something everyone should be entitled to at its
fullest level.
9.
10. Individuals not associated with the government may
not posses any firearms
Alcohol has been banned since 1969 and other drug
use is highly illegal
Freedom of speech has made great strides from the
Gadhafi era to post-Gadhafi era. This is largely
attributed to the fact that people were tired of being
censored by the government. Libya ranked 131 in the
free-press index in 2013 although is was a 23 spot
improvement from 2012 (just as a comparison
Venezuela ranked 117 so be grateful for what you have
and stop complaining about what you don’t”
11. Libyan people have the right to vote for whomever they
choose to for the most part. There have been some
banned parties like the Libyan Popular National
Movement. This party was banned because the leader
was connected to one of Gadhafi's sons.
Libyan people value political freedom more than
anything after the excruciating 42 years under the
Gadhafi regime. This is one thing that people in Libya
have a firm grasp on and will not allow anyone to gain
to much power.
The political sovereignty in Libya can be affected by
the many militias that helped overthrow Gadhafi.
These militias go around doing what the want and it
can influence the government
12. Overall, political freedom in Libya is not good. It is
good in the sense that one may vote for whomever they
want but since Libya’s government is still in a
“transitional” stage things can be a little chaotic when
it comes to decision making.
After the overthrow of the Gadhafi regime, Libya has
not quite gotten a good grasp on the government.
In Libya it is very unclear whom is making the
decisions when it comes to politics. This is largely
because of the rebel groups that still roam the streets
of Libya.
13. Libya has some national freedom but not entirely
Libya has basically NO influence from other countries
or groups
Libya’s government is still in a “transitional” stage and
therefore still do not make all the laws themselves. In
fact it is reported that many of the laws and rules are
made by some non-government affiliated people
(rebels).
14. Order can be difficult to maintain in Libya because the
many militias that still patrol the streets following
their own rules.
Law enforcement in Libya has been trained by the
United kingdom to fight off any other threats (mostly
militia)
