De Gaulle and the question of Syria and Lebanon during the Second World War: Part I

This study examines political, economic, and strategic relations between Libya and Britain from the Second World War to the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’ conflict in Libya. Analysing primary and secondary sources, this study attempts to determine if a connection exists between the British fighting in Libya during the Second World War and the British-led military intervention in the Libyan ‘Arab Spring’ revolt against Muammar Qaddafi's regime. Britain retained a strategic and economic presence in Libya in the period following the country's independence in 1951. The rise to power of Qaddafi in 1969, however, changed the course of bilateral ties. Qaddafi nationalized British assets in Libya, and implemented anti-Western policies. Ties with Britain were strained, reaching a low point during the 1980s and 1990s with Libya's persecution of political dissidents in Britain. A brief rapprochement between Tripoli and London from 2001 to 2011 brought normalization of ties and renewed British investment in the Libyan oil sector. However, in February 2011, Britain and its western partners aided Libyan rebels in their fight against Qaddafi, successfully toppling his regime. Today, as the struggle for power continues in Libya – with Islamist groups representing a serious force vying for power – many questions remain concerning the future direction of the Libyan state and society.     

Total War and Genocide: Reflections on the Second World War

This paper draws on the findings of a series of international conferences on the question of “total war” in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries to investigate possible connections between “total war” and the problem of genocide. Both “total war” and genocide appear to have reached a terrible culmination in the years 1937‐1945, raising the question of the connection between the two phenomena. This paper considers the usefulness of concepts such as “total war” and “genocide” as social‐scientific ideal types, before going on to reflect on the state of research on the linkage between Nazi Germany's drive for “total war” and its implementation of policies of genocide.