Qaddafi’s World Design: Libyan Foreign Policy, 1969-1987

Although the subject has not been ignored by others, this is the broadest treatment yet of Libyan foreign policy under Muammar al-Qaddafi. It does not penetrate deeply or go into great detail-the author calls it a "preliminary statement"-yet one wonders how much digging is really necessary or useful in the case of policies so bizarre, ill conceived and irrelevant. The answer, presumably, is that when a policymaker has, in the service of his ideology and his whims, plenty of oil and money and an addiction to terrorism, the rest of the world and particularly his neighbors have to take notice. However, perhaps those concerned can now begin to relax; even a "preliminary statement" can conclude that Qaddafi's policies have failed.