Libya_JL_AK

= Libya = = By: Joanna Leski and Ashley Kriston = = = = = = Demographics =


 * Median age of population**
 * 32.8 % of the population is 0-14 years old
 * 62.7 % of the population is 15-64 years old
 * 4.6 % of the population is 65 years and over
 * The total median age for the population is 24.5 and it is 24.5 for males and 24.4 for females [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/LibyaPopulation2011.jpg/300px-LibyaPopulation2011.jpg align="right"]]

Sex ratio
 * Male/Female**
 * **at birth:** 1.05 male(s)/female
 * **under 15 years:** 1.04 male(s)/female
 * **15-64 years:** 1.06 male(s)/female
 * **65 years and over:** 0.96 male(s)/female
 * **population:** 1.05 male(s)/female (2011 est.)


 * Race/Ethnicity**
 * Libya's population of 6.6 million is constantly growing at a rate of 2.06 annually.[[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Libya_ethnic.svg/300px-Libya_ethnic.svg.png align="right"]]
 * About 97 percent of Libyans are Arab.
 * There are also small groups of Greeks, Maltese, and Italians in Libya.
 * Arabic is the official language spoken by almost everybody, and the second languages are English, French, and Italian.

Geography > aquifers in the south to the north to use for drinking, irrigation, and industry
 * Religion**
 * Religion is a daily pursuit for Muslims
 * Islam is Libya's official religion and 97 % of the people practice it up
 * Some of Libya's laws are based on the Qur'an, the holy book Muslims follow
 * Libyans pray five times a day, profess Allah as the only and Muhammad as his prophet, help the poor, fast during the holy month of Ramadan, and make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime
 * Friday is the Muslim day of worship, when sermon are given at the mosque during the noon prayer
 * Women and men have separate areas for men and women to worship.
 * Women usually worship at home
 * Libya has an area of 679, 362 square miles and it is larger than Alaska and Minnesota combined.
 * Libya stretches south from the Mediterranean Sea
 * A Mediterranean climate provides warm summers, mild winters, and as much as 16 inches of rainfall per year.[[image:http://www.mapsnworld.com/libya/libya-map.jpg width="266" height="229" align="right"]]
 * The rest of the country is dry and hot
 * Deserts only receive an inch of rain every year
 * Temperatures reach 120 ° F during the summer
 * There are no permanent rivers, only dry riverbeds that fill with rain water when it rains
 * A engineering project called the Great Man-Made River channels water from underground
 * It is the fourth largest country in Africa
 * Libya has a rocky coast bordered by a thin strip of farmable land and then by the vast Sahara Desert, which covers 90 % percent of the country.
 * The landscape includes beaches, sand dune-filled deserts, oases, rocky hills, and mountains.
 * Seventh biggest country in the world
 * Its coastline lies between Egypt and Tunisha

=Economic Resources=

Imports
 * Libya imports two thirds of their food
 * Climatic conditions and poor soils severely limit agricultural output, so they import 75 % of their food
 * Libya imports machinery, semi-finished goods, food, transport equipment, and consumer products

Exports
 * Oil transformed Libya into one of Africa's wealthiest nations.
 * Libya exports natural gas, fruits, vegetables, grains, and cattle.

Jobs


 * 17 % of people have a job in argiculture, 23 % have a job in industry, and 59 % have a job in services.
 * 30 % of people are unemployeed
 * The main industries are petroleum, petrochemicals, aluminium, iron and steel, food processing, textiles, handicrafts, cemen

GDP
 * Crude oil and refined petroleum products account for more than a third of the GDP
 * The Libyan economy depends primarily upon revenue from hydrocarbons
 * Libya has one of the highest per capita GDPs in Africa
 * The GDP is $92.62 billion and is the eighty eight on GDP list compared to the world
 * U.S has the second highest GDP in the world and Libya is number eighty eight. America is a lot richer than Libya and a lot more successful.


 * Political Structure**


 * Libya’s government structure is undergoing a period of transition. In 2011, anti-Qaddafi rebel forces established the National Transitional Coucil which has been recognized by many international goverments. With Qaddafi’s death in October 2011, the NTC vowed to dissolve itself quickly and hold elections by mid-2012. The NTC elected businessman Abdel Rahim al-Keib as interim prime minister until general elections can be hold. Under Qaddafi, the government was based on the political ideas set forth in the former leader’s Green Book. The Green Book outlines Libya’s complex political system of committees and councils. This system divides Libya into sma [[image:https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRvwrNrxCVY-GzqGX8ZNWmpjdJVxRqYW8E9_WfqqAgArSX6_3C84A align="right"]] ll locality, called Basic People’s Congress. Each locality elects a committee with a certain area of responsibility . The local committees gather to debate policies when needed. The resulting resolutions influence the decisions of the cabinet and secretary of the General People’s Committee, which are made up of representatives from various lower committees and and serves as Libya's executive branch. Libya's legislature is the General People's Congress. Its 760 members are indirectly elected through a series of lower committees. In 2011, anti-Qaddafi rebel forces established the National Transitional Council (NTC), which has been recognized by many international governments. With Qaddafi's death in October 2011, the NTC vowed to dissolve itself quickly and hold elections by mid-2012. The NTC elected businessman Abdel Rahim al-Keib as interim prime minister until general elections can be held.
 * The basic rule for voting in Libya is you’re 18 and have a Libyan citizenship, you can vote for elections. Libya is waiting for an election (that will take place in June 2012) for a Constitutional Assembly to draw up a new constitution.
 * Elections use to be held every four years, until the government got messed up. Now the last election took place in 1965 and the next one will take place in 2012.

=History=
 * ====Oil was discovered in Libya in 1959. This made a lot of other countries interested in Libya and made the country very wealthy====
 * A group of military officers began to make changes with the profit of the oil and their leader, Muammar Qaddafi, was in full control.
 * Qaddafi created wars with other countries to get more power but lost a lot of them. Afterwards he formed a union called the Arab Maghreb Union with Tunisia, Ageria, Morocco, and Mauritania.
 * British and US military bases had been placed in Libyan territory and Qaddafi ordered them to leave. This ended up in bomb battles with the US.
 * In 2011 rebellion started to break out in the country because many of the people weren't happy with Qaddafi's ruling. The International Criminal Court wanted Qaddafi arrested for all the violence he brought upon his own country. He was eventually killed while he was trying to escape.

=Legitimacy=

They managed to destroy the Gadhafi regime with the help of NATO, the country's interim leaders are sitting on a political powder keg as they struggle to establish law and order amid chaos. ||
 * > Purpose of Government ||> Fufills/Does Not Fufill ||
 * > 1. Maintaining Order ||> Does Fufill
 * > 2. Provide Public Services ||> Fufills to a minimal extentGadaffi took the education system and replaced the information with things he considered correct and taught the children wrong things. School was provided, but not with a good education system. Some of the older generations do not know how to speak or read because they did not recieve a good education.Libya doesnt have transportation needs either. ||
 * > 3.National Defense ||> Fufills to a minimal extentThe Libyan Army only numbered "a few thousand" trained soldiers in November 2011, and was rapidly trying to train up new fighters who could keep the peace nationwide and deter rogue militias from acting without NTC orders, and was responsible for brokering a ceasefire on at least on occasion in November between warring militas from Zawiya and Al Maya. On 1 December 2011, it was reported that the National Liberation Army was to integrate up to 50,000 former rebel fighters into the new Libyan national army and police forces, with the aid of French training, with long term aims to integrate as many as 200,000 fighters from the brigades that had fought against Gaddafi during the civil war. The military has opened fire and hurt many citizens though in unnescary events. . ||
 * > 4.Individual Rights ||> Does Not FufillCitizens do not have a stable government and they constantly have to live in fear. ||
 * > 5.Economic Decisions ||> Does Not FufillGadaffi did not allow Libya to communicate with Europe and the United States and they could not be allies.They could also not trade with them which caused Libya to not have any goods they needed and they had a lower GPD and imports and exports and less money. ||

=Current Uprising= ====__Who revolted?:__ The majority of the people revolted against Qaddafi because he was treating everyone so unfairly. A lot of migrant workers got caught in the middle of the fighting and took the worst of it so they began to become unhappy with the government as well.====

__Why did they revolt?:__ The people of Libya weren't happy with Qaddafi taking over and being a dictator. He was extremely violent towards the people to get and show his power and to get what he wanted. Qaddafi was an Imperialist and wanted to take over as much land as possible to extend his power. The only way for this to happen was if he started a war and the people didn't want a war.

__How did they organize?:__ As the rebels started to take back land from Qaddafi and the government they created supply lines running from those freed towns to battle fronts. They also created their own rotations so they people fighting could get a break and go home for a few days then go back into fighting. They also had an operation room in Benghazi which is one of the first cities they took over.

__How did the people overthrow the government?:__ Rebel fighters and planned and captured the city Tripoli as their first step. Qaddafi's compound was in there so when he took it over Qaddafi was taken away by the rebels leaving Libya without a leader.

__How did the government respond?:__ The Libyan government responded to the rebels by attacking them with artillery so they would stop attacking. This was the only way they could stop or slow down the rebels from moving forward.

__How was the government same/different after the revolution?:__ Different: Before Qaddafi wanted complete control and he would do anything no matter how cruel it was to get it. He had everything so tightly controlled that there was barely any freedom. Now that the dictator is gone they have freedom to become a democracy.

Same: Unemployment rate are still high after the revolution and they aren't getting any better. Their army is still weak after all the wars Qaddafi had started too. Their education during Qaddafi's rule wasn't exactly good. He would take the information the kids were supposed to be reading and would change it so it would say whatever he wanted. The kids weren't really learning anything. Now the the kids still aren't learning anything because the education system doesn't know what they're supposed to teach the kids anymore.

=Works Cited= "Libya â Revolution and Aftermath." //Libya News//. New York Times, 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. . "Libya." //CultureGrams Online Database://. Proquest, 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. . "Libya Revolution One Year On: Better after Gaddafi?" //BBC News//. BBC, 16 Feb. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. . "Libya's Rebels Try to Organize Better, but It's Not Easy." //McClatchy//. 12 Mar. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. . Weaver, Matthew, Haroon Siddique, Paul Owen, and Jo Adetunji. "Libya after Gaddafi." //The Guardian//. Guardian News and Media, 12 Jan. 0023. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. .

