ABSTRACT
Competitive party systems are virtually non-existent in the Arab world, reflecting the rulers' preoccupation with concentration of power and a still limited level of social and political mobilisation, at which pressures for its diffusion can still be absorbed by a single, or failing that, a dominant party system. Libya under Qadhafi is a classic example of charismatic leadership in which a leader enjoying unbounded personal power makes his vision the source of all major innovation, his personal drive the principle dynamism in the political system. Power had long been dominated by a small traditional elite, while most Libyans were politically passive. The old regime had lost much of its traditional legitimacy, and Qadhafi's overthrow of this discredited regime and his nationalist assertiveness quickly won him a mass following. Thus he acquired the fund of political capital needed to dominate, expand and reshape a small and pliant political arena.
