Local Governance as an Essential Tool for State Building in Libya

The North Africa Initiative hosted a roundtable discussion moderated by the Former UN Senior Advisor on Libya Stephanie Williams on “Local Governance as an Essential Tool for State Building in Libya”. The event featured Mohamed Khaled Elghuel, presidential candidate in Libya's elections and former Deputy Minister and Hafed Al-Ghwell, Senior Fellow and Executive Director of the North Africa Initiative at the Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) at SAIS.

What could the real devolution of power from the center to the so-called periphery look like in Libya, a rentier state which has experienced a mostly failed approach towards administrative decentralization since the 2011 uprising? Can a ground-up approach which empowers citizens and their elected representatives at the provincial and municipal level help address the absence of state and institution building in Libya? Can this community level effort help to tackle the proliferation and consolidation of armed groups in the country?