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A Discourse Analysis of the Western-Led Intervention in Libya (2011)

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A Discourse Analysis of the Western-Led Intervention in Libya (2011) UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS POLÍTICAS Y SOCIOLOGÍA DEPARTAMENTO DE CIENCIA POLÍTICA Y DE LA ADMINISTRACIÓN III TESIS DOCTORAL Human rights as performance: a discourse analysis of the Western-led intervention in Libya (2011) MEMORIA PARA OPTAR AL GRADO DE DOCTOR PRESENTADA POR Matthew Robson DIRECTOR Heriberto Cairo Carou Madrid, 2018 © Matthew Robson, 2017 PHD THESIS HUMAN RIGHTS AS PERFORMANCE: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE WESTERN-LED INTERVENTION IN LIBYA (2011) Matthew Robson Director de tesis: Heriberto Cairo Carou Departamento de Ciencia Política y de la Administración III (Teorías y Formas Políticas y Geografía Humana) Universidad Complutense de Madrid 1 Dedicated to Mum and Dad. 2 CONTENTS Acknowledgements 6 Transliteration 7 Abstract 8 Summary 9 Resúmen 13 INTRODUCTION 20 Objectives and elaboration of research questions 22 Literature review on the military intervention in Libya 26 -Concerning the legality of the NATO mission 28 -Ethical considerations 30 -The politics of Western intervention in Libya 33 Summary of Sections 48 PART 1 METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL 40 FRAMEWORK CHAPTER 1 METHODOLOGY / RESEARCH DESIGN 41 1. 1 Making choices in post-structural discourse analysis 41 1. 2 Research design for the Western-led intervention in Libya 44 CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 53 2.1 The 'critical geopolitics' research project and 'imperiality' 53 2. 2 Questions of ontology and epistemology 62 3 2.3 Discourse, power and knowledge 69 2.4 Identity, performativity and intertextuality in foreign 77 policy discourse PART 2 LIBYA IN THE WESTERN GEOPOLITICAL 97 IMAGINATION CHAPTER 3 US AND UK RELATIONS WITH LIBYA 99 DURING THE COLD WAR 3. 1 Libya and the Anglo-powers after the ‘green revolution’ 99 3. 2 Terrorism, Subversion and Hostility 111 CHAPTER 4 PUNISHING THE ‘ROGUE’ 118 CHAPTER 5 COMING IN FROM THE COLD AND THE 124 ‘WAR ON TERROR’ 5. 1 On the road to ‘rehabilitation’ 124 5. 2 Libya and Gaddafi: Recalcitrant to change? 136 PART 3 DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE 148 MILITARY INTERVENTION IN LIBYA CHAPTER 6 CONSTRUCTION OF THE BASIC DISCOURSES 149 5.1 The basic ‘human rights’ discourse 149 5.2 The basic ‘civil war’ discourse 155 4 CHAPTER 7 PERFORMING HUMAN RIGHTS: HUMAN 162 RIGHTS AND SECURITY IN FOREIGN POLICY DISCOURSE � 7.1 � Human rights as an ideological weapon 163 � 7.2 � Human rights in an ‘interconnected’ world 177 � 7.3 � Human rights in the Cameron and Obama administrations 187 � CHAPTER 8 OFFICIAL UK POLICY DISCOURSE: 207 BETWEEN RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT AND REGIME � CHANGE � 8.1 � Continuity with basic ‘human rights’ discourse 208 � 8.2 � Political opposition to official UK discourse 214 � 8.3 � Media opposition and the onset of ‘stalemate’ 219 � 8.4 � How the UK government maintained discursive stability 223 � CHAPTER 9 OFFICIAL US POLICY DISCOURSE: FROM � CAUTION TO CONVERGENCE 233 � 9.1 � Political opposition and the ‘War Powers Act’ 243 � 9.2 � US media discourse and the identity of the ‘rebels’ 247 � 9.3 � Maintaining discursive stability: convergence with official 251 UK discourse and the ‘destiny’ of the Libyan people � CONCLUSIONS � 260 � APPENDIX 274 � BIBLIOGRAPHY 275 � 5 Acknowledgements First of all to my family and friends, I must say thanks for all of the support and interest they have shown in this project. They have also had the undoubtedly arduous task of listening to me sigh, complain, and go on about this thesis for the last four and a bit years. All of the conversations which have I have been a part of have helped either in exploring new ideas, or in testing ones already thought. To Mum, Elaine and Sarah, especially, it is humbling to have such a great family with me and I'm sure I wouldn't have got to this stage without you. I must express my gratitude to the Complutense University for such an amazing opportunity to try and achieve something in an area of knowledge which has become, and will remain, a true passion. I honestly do not know what I would have done, or where I would have ended up, without the chance to work towards something as meaningful and worthwhile as political research. My Supervisor Heriberto has assisted me throughout, and his guidance, patience and understanding during this time we've been working together is something I'll always remember. I sincerely hope I have learned from his critical approach to politics and that the end product is something he will be satisfied with. As a side note, I believe that the public education system in Spain- of which the Complutense is an integral part- should be defended against efforts to dismantle it. This would be a tragedy, especially in the field of politics, where it is imperative to give students from all socio-economic backgrounds a fair opportunity to reach higher levels of knowledge. Finally, recognition should be given to all of the critical Geopolitics and International Relations scholars, who have, and continue to be a great inspiration. There are obviously too many to mention but one could highlight the work of Gearóid Ó Tuathail, David Campbell, and Lene Hansen, all of whom have had a profound impact on this work. The struggle against power and the pursuit of justice, I think, are perhaps the only universal values. I reserve a final thanks to an anonymous reviewer, who with very little notice was so accommodating in helping out with a last-minute evaluation. Transliteration 6 It is widely known that the transliteration of Arabic names and places to the English language throws up certain difficulties for authors. For research on Libya this is no different. For simplicity this thesis will resort to conventional spellings which are to be found in a wide variety of English language media such as the BBC: E.G ‘Gaddafi’. It is acknowledged that this may differ from academic figures who take Libya as a central interest. For instance: Dirk Vandewalle uses ‘Qadhafi’, Ronald Bruce St John has opted for ‘Qaddafi’, while Lisa Anderson has oscillated between ‘Qaddafi’ and ‘Qadhdhafi’. There are also many other variations to be found. When citing directly from a particular source in this thesis, the author’s original spelling will be used, unless where meaning is obscured and identification of the individual made difficult. Abstract � 7 Abstract for ‘Human rights as performance: a discourse analysis of the Western- led intervention in Libya’. The persistent violence, instability and widespread human rights abuses which have plagued Libya since the Western-led military intervention, have all called into question the West’s decisive role in bringing about the fall of the previous Libyan government. While previous work has shown a tendency to confirm or repudiate the humanitarian intentions of the Western state, this thesis offers up a more nuanced understanding. In considering the state to be 'performatively' constituted by a range of re-iterative discursive practices, it becomes possible to view the Western intervention in Libya as the materialization of a ‘human rights’ discourse which exudes both a moral component- spreading the 'universal' values of 'freedom' and 'democracy'- and a geopolitical component- the security objectives advanced through the liberalisation and democratisation of Libya and the wider region-. Nevertheless, it is put forward here that in the case of Libya, the 'human rights' discourse deployed by Western governments is pernicious in that its internal logics work to dismiss and disparage too easily the merits of other interpretations of events- such as a hegemonic ‘civil war’ discourse to be found in Western media-, foreclosing in the process more peaceful and potentially more stable solutions to the violence taking place. This suggests that appeals to ‘human rights’ have shown a capacity to undermine and betray the very humanitarian and strategic objectives strived for by Western policy makers in the first place. Summary � 8 Summary of the PhD thesis ‘Human rights as performance: a discourse analysis of � the Western-led intervention in Libya’ The Western-led military intervention in Libya of 2011 was carried out in response to the violent uprisings taking place, and on the basis that the Libyan government was denying the Libyan people their basic human rights. Nevertheless, the continued violence, instability and widespread human rights abuses which has followed the toppling of ex-leader Gaddafi has raised questions about the legitimacy and the wisdom of Western actions. This thesis has sought to investigate the military intervention, with primary focus on the discourses used to give meaning to the events in Libya and the actions carried out by Western governments. This involves an analysis of how the key identities were constituted, and also, crucially, an assessment of the consequences of using one particular discourse-identity-policy cluster as opposed to another. One of the key theoretical premises assumed is that it is ‘performativity’ which best explains how the state constitutes its own identity, and thus the concrete actions taken by it. Finally, in analysing these facets of the intervention, it will become possible to reach conclusions as to what extent Western actions correspond with what David Slater has called the ‘imperiality of power’ (Slater, 2013). The findings show that the Western debate and intervention in Libya (2011) revolved around two basic discourses, which constructed the identities of those involved in radically different ways, and hence pointed to divergent foreign policy options. The ‘human rights’ discourse, which was deployed by the US and UK governments, constructed a dual-Libyan Other comprising an ‘illegitimate’ leader, Moammar Gaddafi, and a ‘Libyan people’ who were aspiring to realize their human rights of ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’. This representation of events led to the imposition of a no-fly zone, Western air-strikes, and ultimately the toppling of Gaddafi and the Libyan government. In opposition to this, a ‘civil war’ discourse would emerge from media and opposition voices to challenge the very precepts of the ‘human rights’ discourse.
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