Source: West Asia and Africa, No .4, 2024

Abstract: Tribalism is an important factor in Libya ' s political and social life. During Gaddafi ' s regime, Libya ' s political ecology has changed from  detribalization  to a reliance on specific tribes to consolidate authority. After the fall of Gaddafi in 2011, Libya launched a political transition process of national reconstruction, during which it experienced the  re - tribalization  phenomenon in the political field. The reasons for that include the historical legacy of political culture of tribalism, the system base of political participation of the tribes, the fact of tribes and tribal alliance ' s engagement in the political order building in Libya, and the tribal minorities ' appeal for political influences. At present, the tribal groups have become important political entities, whose main characters are: the localization and tribalization of the needs for public goods in social security, the collusion of the tribal opportunism and state separatism, and tribe ' s attempt to carry out external exchanges as non - state actor. The worsening of the  re - tribalization  problem has aggravated Libya ' s domestic security situation, intensified political confrontation, and ultimately pushed the narrow regional political culture to re - emerge, leading to the country ' s reconstruction being trapped. Curbing the  re - tribalization  problem which is contrary to the nation - building is the long - term challenge of post - war reconstruction and political modernization development in Libya.

Keywords: Middle East politics; Libya; re - tribalization; tribal politics