New State-Building Process for Libya? Italy and the International Community 2011-2021

Since the fall of Muʿammar al-Qadhafi, Libya has gone through a decade of deep instability and chaos. The international community, worried by the deteriorating of the Libyan scenario, committed itself to mediate among competing internal and external actors in Libya and to support a domestic-led stabilization process through diplomatic mediation tracks and multilateral negotiations. Among the most involved international actors, Italy played a fundamental role in stabilizing Libya by trying to renew its “special relationship” with the country, historically based on reciprocal economic, commercial, security and energy interests. Italy’s interests in Libya are plural, from the dependency on Libyan oil and gas to migration and security. Geography leads Italy to consider the North African country as its geopolitical and strategically relevant “backyard”; after all, Libya is a Mediterranean country, and the Mare Nostrum is perceived by Rome as the main source of opportunities and challenges and a driver for its foreign policy projection as well as for its domestic politics. For this reason, Italy has been acting as a mediator, trying to facilitate a reconstruction of the political and military framework and to promote a stable Libya, where its interests can be secured. In light of the above, the aim of this article is to analyze the role played by Italy within the Libyan crisis, keeping as a historical compass the main events that marked the post-Qadhafi decade and without losing sight of the international context in which Italy’s political and geopolitical action is contextualized.