Jamahiriyya

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JAMAHIRIYYA

In Libya, "rule of the masses."

This new word was coined by Muammar al-Qaddafi and adopted by the Libyan General People's Congress in 1977 as part of the country's official name: the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyya. It is designed to convey the abolition of "government" and the beginning of the "era of people's authority" in Libya.

see also general people's congress (gpc); qaddafi, muammar al-.

lisa anderson