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Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl in El Mundo on Libya and quagmire

In the Spanish daily newspaper 'El Mundo', Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Leiden, was asked about his book 'Quagmire in Civil War' and how the war became entrenched in Libya.

February 17 is the tenth anniversary of the rebellion against Libyan President Muammar Qadhafi, and the country is stuck in a civil war. A new three-member Presidential Council, elected two weeks ago, on February 5, may be cause for some optimism; it is charged with forming a Government of National Unity, which will oversee a general election in December. What is behind Libyas experience of civil war in the last decade?

In the Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo, Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Leiden, was asked about his book Quagmire in Civil War and how the war became entrenched in Libya.

In the case of Libya – as in Syria or Yemen, Schulhofer-Wohl explains, war has become entrenched due to the interaction between the warring parties and the external powers that back and sponsor them with weapons, financing, and political support. That interaction allows them to fight under certain conditions, when without it they would have had to negotiate or give up. It is an example of how, without external support, the war would have gone in another direction.’”

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