Libya: Sanctions Removal Done Right? A Review of the Libyan Sanctions Experience, 1980–2006

Abstract

This paper reviews first the history of sanctions imposition against Libya from 1980–2000 and then sanctions relief from 2000–2011. In it, I offer an assessment first of the effects of sanctions and then the effects of sanctions relief, seeking to pin down the degree to which sanctions—rather than other economic factors or policy choices—were responsible for Libyan economic development. The paper then concludes with an analysis of the sanctions relief that Libya enjoyed and potential lessons for future sanctions imposition and relief projects