According to Baldinetti (2010), Libyan nationalism is in origin diasporic, signaling the political relevance of diaspora communities that reaches back as far as the independence in 1951. A strong sense of (be)longing among Libyans in the diaspora can be observed. Nevertheless, scholarship work on Libya has often focused on Muammar al-Gaddafi’s foreign policy, neglecting society-state relations. This includes diaspora studies as well as Libyans ‘at home’. The two orientations have developed independent of one another.

The Jamahiriya followed a strategy of transnational repression. Living in exile did little to prevent Libyans from being subjected to the regime’s Revolutionary Committees. Diaspora communities were thus credited to be socially atomized and politically weak (Seeberg, 2020). Conversely, one major theme when studying Libyan internal dynamics has been the strategic co-option and reinforcement of tribal figures in order to consolidate the power of the regime (e.g., Davis 1987; Obeidi 2001).

Under such a different set of influences, one could expect the two groups to have evolved in separate directions. Some continuities have nevertheless been reported. When analyzing the diasporic ‘long-distance nationalism’, Alunni (2019) reports ‘entrenched kinship relations’ that echo the overall tribal understanding of the Libyan domestic society. In the context of the Arab Spring, Moss (2021) speaks of a process of ‘conflict transmission’ from the country towards the diasporic communities.  

Putting literature discussions in dialogue that have often been considered separately, the authors aim to gain a broader understanding of state-society relations during the Jamahiriya: How did the strategies of (internal) co-option and (external) repression relate to one another? Furthermore, enriching the results with a limited number of interviews, the authors will seek to identify the ruptures and continuities between Libyans abroad and at home, asking how these policies have led to specific dynamics and social constitutions of these groups.