The accounting literature documents that political factors, among others, have an influence on accounting practices (Alhashim and Arpan, 1988). This section provides a brief historical background on the changes to the political system of Libya over the past six decades.
Due to its location in the mid-Mediterranean part of North Africa, as a connection point between Europe and Central Africa, and between the Middle East and North West Africa, the country, for almost 3,000 years, has been a target for many military invasions and colonisations until it declared independence on 24th of December 19514 under the leadership of King Idris Al-Sanussi (Mahmud, 1997). During a period of 3,000 years of invasions, Libya was attacked by different nations, including the Phoenicians, the
3 This chapter is restricted to examine the internal environmental factors. External factors as described by Doupnik and Salter (1995) are beyond the scope of this discussion. External factors, according to Doupnik and Salter (1995), “encompasses diverse influences” for example, the economic conditions, geography, colonization, climate, technology, disease, and relationships with other countries. (p. 194).
4 On 21 November 1949, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution stating that Libya should become independent before 1st January 1952… When Libya declared its independence on December 24, 1951, it was the first country to do so through the United Nations (FCO, 2012).
Carthaginians, the Greeks, the Romans, Spaniards, Vandals, and the Byzantine Empire.
Libya has also been occupied by Muslim Arabs, Ottoman Turks and a more recent military invasion by Italy in 1911 (Mahmud, 1997; Kribat, 2009). Table 2.3 shows the main historical events in Libya.
Table 2.1 Main Historical Events of Libya
Date Event
Before 642 Libya was occupied by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals and Byzantines.
642-1510 Arab Islamic Rule: Libya conquered by Arab Islamic conquerors. In this period, Libya was ruled by several Islamic rulers (states).
1510-1551 Tripoli was invaded by the Hapsburg Spain.
1551-1911 Ottoman Empire: Libya was occupied by Ottoman Turks and it remained part of the Ottoman Empire.
1911-1943 Italian Colony: the Italians supplanted the Ottoman Turks in the area around Tripoli in 1911 and did not relinquish their hold until 1943 when defeated in World War II.
1943-1951 British and French military administration: the Allied powers controlled Libya and then it passed to UN administration and achieved independence in 1951.
1951-1969 Independence and the United Kingdom of Libya: Libyan gained its independence on 24th of December 1951, as a constitutional and hereditary monarchy under the King Idris Al-Sanuusi.
1959 The discovery of significant oil reserves: enabling one of the world’s poorest nations to establish an extremely wealthy state, and become one of world’s leading oil producers.
1969-1973 September military coup in 1969 (Libyan Arab Republic): the governing authority became the Revolution Command Council (RCC) led by Gaddafi.
1973-1977 In 1973, Gaddafi declared the Cultural Revolution to encourage people to participate in political life by creation of the “People’s Committees” to administer local and regional administrations. This caused administrative chaos in the country by abolishing all laws; eliminating political parties which were intended as revolution’s enemies.
1977-2011 “The People’s Authority” the RCC was replaced by the General People’s Congress (GPC) as a parliamentary body (the highest legislative authority) which established the new political regime for the country, ‘The People’s Authority’.
Feb 2011 Anti-Gaddafi Uprising: on 15th February a violent protest in Benghazi (in the east of Libya) was sparked in response to a human rights campaigner arrest. Uprising then becomes a people’ revolution and spread almost to all Libyan cities.
Mar 2011 National Transitional Council (NTC) was formed in Benghazi to represent the rebels locally and internationally. The main objective for NTC was to get rid of the Gaddafi regime and guide the country toward democracy.
Aug 2011 Country’s Capitol Liberty: in 20th Aug, rebels entered Tripoli from three axes, three days later the capital was declared liberated.
Oct 2011 Death of the Tyrant: on 20th of Oct, rebels captured and killed Gaddafi in his birth town of Sirte.
Aug 2012- Now General National Congress (GNC): NTC passed the power to GNC. GNC has elected Dr. Mohammed Magarief as its chairman, therefore, becoming the interim head of state.
Adaptation from: Zagoub (2011, p. 13); BBC (2012a).
From 1969 until February 2011, Libya was governed by the Gaddafi regime. In early 2011 violent protests erupted in Benghazi and these were promptly followed in other cities
which quickly led to a public revolution which overthrew the Gaddafi regime5. Gaddafi had ruled the country since 1969 when he took power in a bloodless coup that overthrew King Idris; subsequently he ruled as a dictator. Since that time he ruled the country “with an iron fist” until the country “embarked on a radically new chapter in its history”
following the revolution (BBC, 2012a, 2012b). Gaddafi’s life was full of controversy. At the beginning, Gaddafi was influenced by, and emulated, the Egyptian leader Jamal Abdel Nasser. However, he then ruled the country in ways which were “increasingly eccentric”.
In 1975, he published his Green Book in which he put his ideas forth (the Third International Theory) as an alternative to both communism and capitalism. As a consequence of his book, Libya became known as ‘Jamahirya’ which loosely can be translated into the ‘state of masses’. According to the Green Book, Libya was governed by a direct democratic system by which peoples’ committees took power to rule the country.
However, in fact the real power was only with Gaddafi (BBC, 2012a). The year 2011 has seen unprecedented developments in Libyan modern history. After 42 years of tyranny and repression, Libya embarked on a revolution to end decades of repression. Rebels then organised a leadership called the National Transitional Council (NTC) to organise the rebels’ efforts and represent them locally and later internationally (The World Bank, 2012).
The NTC met for the first time in 5th March 2011 in Benghazi, where it based, to declare itself the sole representative of Libya acting on behalf of the rebellion against the Gaddafi regime. The NTC has made it clear that it is only a transitional government and not an interim government; later on 15th July 2011 the NTC was recognised as the only legitimate representative authority in Libya by the ‘Libya Contact Group6’ (FCO, 2012).
5 “Libya’s long-time leader Col Muammar Gaddafi was killed [on 20th October, 2011] in his home town of Sirte, officials say, by forces who have been trying to topple him since February, with the backing of Western and Arab nations “ (BBC, 2012).
6This groups was established mainly to support the NTC’ efforts in the London Conference on Libya that was held in 29th March, 2011, by foreign ministers and organisations from over 40 countries (FCO, 2012).