Does the financial performance matter in accessing to finance for Libya's SMEs?

This study investigates the impact of financial performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on access to finance in Libya. The study is based on the primary data of 557 survey questionnaires on SMEs in various sectors of different regions of Libya. The data analysis contains the computation of descriptive statistics, correlation statistics and multivariate regression analysis. Our results confirm that financial performance expressed by liability to assets ratios, profit, return of assets have no significant effects on access to finance in Libya

Prevalence of chronic pain in Libya before and after the uprising of 17 February 2011.

Two questionnaires were translated into Arabic and culturally adapted to measure chronic pain and neuropathic pain in the general population in Derna, Libya (1, 2), and then in a country-wide survey. A point prevalence of chronic pain and neuropathic pain in Libya was determined. The findings of this series of studies suggested that the prevalence of chronic pain in Libya, which was 19.6%, is similar to the average European estimate (3) despite the cultural dissimilarities of the two regions (4) and the environmental differences surrounding the surveyed samples. The studies of chronic pain in Libya conducted by our pain research team, which involved a PhD student sponsored by the Libyan High Education Authority, indicated that Libyan women were found to have more chronic pain conditions than men. These sex and gender differences in chronic pain highlighted a general trend in epidemiological studies in many parts of the world (5). However, this programme of studies on prevalence of chronic pain was conducted just before the uprising of 17 February 2011 in Libya, and one should be cautious about the validity of some of the findings’ implications for immediate pain management priorities in the country. For example, the findings of the pre-conflict survey that being an old woman with children carries double the risk of having a chronic pain condition compared to a young person with no children may have changed as a result of the war which claimed the lives of around 30,000 Libyans and caused serious injuries to more than 20,000 young men. There is an urgent need for a new programme of studies using the PRIME approach on prevalence, impact, and economic cost of chronic pain (6) in post-conflict Libya. This should inform the health authorities in Libya and help plan management of chronic pain conditions resulting from the conflict. This will also serve as a model that can be applied to other countries from the developing world experiencing similar conflicts (7)

Comparing the impact of E-learning and ICT in Higher Education institutions in Libya and United Kingdom

This paper examines the impact of E-learning and the ICT in the Higher Education (HE) in Libya and UK. A comprehensive analysis of the problems linked to the use of e-learning and ICT in Libyan institutions is performed. It is obvious the pronounced information technology (IT) gap between Libya and the developed world due to social, political and economic conditions in an Arab country where the primary delivery educational model is essentially traditional. Then possible ways of implementing successfully e-learning and ICT in Libyan educational institutions by considering positive UK examples are explored

Witness to History

Nadia Abraibesh ’10 planned to spend the past year studying and living with family in Libya and became a witness to history as well

The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making

This study investigates the association of a broad set of variables with the ethical decision making of management accountants in Libya. Adopting a cross-sectional methodology, a questionnaire including four different ethical scenarios was used to gather data from 229 participants. For each scenario, ethical decision making was examined in terms of the recognition, judgment and intention stages of Rest’s model. A significant relationship was found between ethical recognition and ethical judgment and also between ethical judgment and ethical intention, but ethical recognition did not significantly predict ethical intention—thus providing support for Rest’s model. Organizational variables, age and educational level yielded few significant results. The lack of significance for codes of ethics might reflect their relative lack of development in Libya, in which case Libyan companies should pay attention to their content and how they are supported, especially in the light of the under-development of the accounting profession in Libya. Few significant results were also found for gender, but where they were found, males showed more ethical characteristics than females. This unusual result reinforces the dangers of gender stereotyping in business. Personal moral philosophy and moral intensity dimensions were generally found to be significant predictors of the three stages of ethical decision making studied. One implication of this is to give more attention to ethics in accounting education, making the connections between accounting practice and (in Libya) Islam. Overall, this study not only adds to the available empirical evidence on factors affecting ethical decision making, notably examining three stages of Rest’s model, but also offers rare insights into the ethical views of practising management accountants and provides a benchmark for future studies of ethical decision making in Muslim majority countries and other parts of the developing world

Libya after the civil war: regime change and democratisation

This article examines changes in Libya’s internal security, politics, economy and international relations since the start of the revolution in February 2011. Our main argument is that in order to transition from authoritarianism to democracy significant change in each of these four, mutually reinforcing, areas is needed. Drawing on data collected through media analysis and field work, we offer a discussion of the nature of change in Libya and how far the country has democratised. We claim that significant changes in Libya’s political system and foreign relations have taken place since 2011 that reinforce the process of democratisation. Within the political system these changes include the conduct of free and fair elections, the formation of new political parties, the reinforcement of civil rights and liberties, governmental accountability and the emergence of a participant political culture. Within foreign relations they include deeper cooperation with regional and international actors, reintegration into the Arab League, and rapprochement with Western states. However, we also observe that structural economic changes, in particular raising personal incomes and lowering poverty, and the normalisation of security provision are moving forward more slowly. We conclude that democratisation in Libya is taking place and there is a solid possibility that embedded democracy will emerge in Libya in the medium to long-term

Future prospects of the renewable energy sector in libya

This study investigates the options available to the energy sector in Libyan, particularly in relation to the potential of using renewable energy as one of the main sources for the country. Libyan government has set a target for renewable energy resources sharing with current energy sources to reach 30% by the year 2030 which mainly includes wind energy, Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), Photovoltaic (PV) and Solar Water Heating (SWH). The argument here is not whether this can be completed or not within the stipulated time. But the main objective is achieving a sustainable economic growth through a clean energy system and for the energy supply to maintain meeting the growing energy demand. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the current energy supply and future demands in Libya. This paper integrates data from literature review, field visits and interviews with Libyan energy experts to paint a comprehensive picture in relation to energy demand and consumption. The findings which have emerged from the analysis of this data reflect energy challenges and opportunities in Libya. Furthermore, securing alternative resources of energy and income are becoming critically important for Libya and other countries within the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) if they wish to maintain the same standard of living for future generations and reduce pollution, fossil fuel local consumption and carbon emission

Echoes of Populism and Terrorism in Libya’s Online News Reporting

This article focuses on news reporting in Libya, assessing both official and citizen journalism. Special attention is paid to online resources, primarily spontaneous posts written in Arabic. Social media shows the emergence of citizen journalism together with so-called User-generated Content. Both have proved capable of creating legitimacy. Political inclinations, including Islamic ideology and its religious claims, are presented, supported, or criticized by ordinary citizens who post their comments and opinions on the web. Official press and news agencies have their social media profiles as well, sharing the same online space with nonprofessionals. Monitoring and analysis of reporting show that there is no relevant difference in journalistic models; nor do concerns between professionals and nonprofessionals vary. Libya appears today to be a mosaic of different interests: one that is interconnected and in conflict at the same time. These interests are vying to establish new supremacies in the country. Journalism in its various typologies faces pressure from the abovementioned interests, so it is negatively affected by rhetoric in both reporting and commentary. These preliminary arguments lead us to the core topics of populism – for which a definition is suggested – and reporting about terrorism in Libya. Against this background, we analyze news flows, sources, and other issues. I conclude with a brief review of the main issues, the characteristics of the Arabic narrative discourse, and the emerging Arabic lexico

Family Ties Spark a Return to Roots

Nadia Abraibesh \u2710, who interned at the Carter Center last summer, is now spending a year in Libya, her father\u27s homeland, to become better acquainted with the language and culture