Editor’s Note on Special Issue on Libya

Ruled by an eccentric tyrant, Libya up until the middle of the 1990s was a prolific state sponsor of terrorism. While Qadhafi’s gradual rehabilitation in the west may have alleviated fears of Libyan-sponsored terrorism, there is still much to understand about the threats posed by Libya and Libyans. The core objective of this Special is to explore the roots of Libyan radical Islam and its manifestations, both in the forms of radical Libyan Islamist organizations and the role played by individual Libyans in al-Qaeda. While militant Islamic groups no longer pose a credible threat to Qadhafi, the unlikelihood of political reform in the country, coupled with the growing religiosity of the Libyan people, indicate that there is still scope for the resurgence of the type and levels of violence that wracked the country in the late 1980s and 1990s.