New report on the political economy of armed groups in Libya

Since 2015, the coastal city of Zawiya has witnessed endemic violence, but never an all-out war between its main forces. Due to this, the city has become emblematic of Libya’s power struggles. Despite its significance, however, no in-depth studies exist on its armed groups and their evolution.
 
A Political Economy of Zawiya: Armed groups and society in a western Libyan city—a new report from the Small Arms Survey’s Security Assessment In North Africa (SANA) project—seeks explanations to this puzzle in the economic interests of armed groups and their varying relations with local society, and shows how Zawiya’s armed groups gradually came to take on a particularly abusive and predatory character.

Read: A Political Economy of Zawiya

For more, check out:

• Continuity and Change: Extremist-used Arms in Mali—a Briefing Paper that investigates the arms, ammunition, explosives, and other materiel used in extremist attacks in Mali from 2015 to 2022, and the sources and pathways through which they were obtained
• Turning Tides: A New Surge in Global Violent Deaths—a blog post that discusses the sharp increases in both conflict-related deaths and intentional homicides, all indicating a reversal in progress towards SDG Target 16.1
• Perceptions, Vulnerabilities, and Prevention: Violent Extremism Threat Assessment in Selected Regions of the Southern Libyan Borderlands and North-Western Nigeria—a report that examines the dynamics of risk factors associated with violent extremism in southern Libya and the neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger, and Sudan, as well as Nigeria
• The SANA project page
• Other SANA outputs in our Resource Library

Other news from the Survey:

• New Blog Post: More firearms, more security, or greater gender violence in Chile?
• New Director at the Small Arms Survey: Dr. Mark Downes
• New Briefing Paper on small arms control and on women, peace, and security
• New Briefing Paper on the arms, ammunition, and explosives used by extremist groups in Mali
• New Briefing Paper on arms transfers to Afghanistan between 2002 and 2021