Today the NTC has been replaced by the General National Congress which is currently fighting for power against rival groups in a civil war that started in 2014 and has resulted, thousands of casualties, 1.5 million food insecure people and 62% of the population not having access to health services (Pradella and Rad, 2017: 2419). This article has analyzed the humanitarian argument for the NATO intervention as well as the anti-imperial and “non-exhaustion of diplomatic measures” arguments against military intervention.
When assessing the merits of an intervention it is necessary to look at both the motivations as well the outcomes. Through the assessment and analysis of the merits it has become clear that the publicly endorsed and primary argument for military intervention was unsound and based on false motivations. Furthermore, the NATO military intervention overstepped its mandate and hyperbolized the regional support it received by excluding to view the AU as a regional actor. The argument was hypocritical, contributed to civilian casualties and acted as a Trojan horse for western imperialism. The arguments against the NATO military intervention require some scrutiny but based on the theory and evidence provided, their arguments and words of caution have rung clear.
The proponents of the anti-imperialist argument might have placed too much emphasis on the motivation for oil contracts in Libya but the western interest in oil, the neoliberal policy imposition and importance of Libya’s geopolitical positionality have all been shown to be true. Additionally, the argument against western military intervention, based on the premise that not all non-military means had been exhausted, also holds value when looking at the AU’s attempts for diplomatic action. Even though the AU’s initiatives were limited in their execution and they lacked consensus amongst themselves, with NATO support, diplomatic measures would have stood a chance (de Waal, 2012).
The NATO military intervention in Libya should not have happened because it was grounded on the flaws of the humanitarian argument, it had dubious imperialist motives and neglected propositions for diplomatic alternatives that could have prevented a civil war from taking place.
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