| Recipient | Dr Gerasimos Tsourapas (University of Glasgow) |
|---|---|
| Date | 01 September, 2021 |
| Amount | £7160 (Research Award) |
| Summary | The politics of migration in Libya have yet to constitute an object of sustained academic inquiry. This interdisciplinary, 18-month long project draws on migration and refugee studies, political science, sociology, and international relations in order to understand the central role that labour immigration enjoyed in Libya between 1951 and 2011. Building on previous work examining Libyan migration politics through the prism of external Arab and non-Arab actors, I draw on previously unexamined archival work in order to identify the workings of the “Libyan migration state.” I seek to move beyond standard interpretations of labour immigrants’ developmental contribution to the contemporary Libyan state in order to identify the domestic political and foreign policy role that cross-border mobility enjoyed under both King Idris and Colonel Gaddafi. The project’s research output will identify the importance of Libya in processes of regional migration governance in North Africa and the wider Mediterranean region, thereby paving the way for novel interpretations of the continuing interplay between migration, politics, and power in contemporary Libya. |
| Click here to read a project research report | |
