It can and will get worse if Europe and its international partners choose to stand idle, because there can be no long-lasting stability in North Africa unless Libya is brought under control.

Libya is in chaos; it has been since the West and Qatar-aided civil war that brought an end to Colonel Qadhafi’s regime. But another military intervention is definitely not what's needed.

On July 7th 2012, Libya held its first election of the post-Gaddafi era. This historic event saw the moderate National Forces Alliance emerge as a surprise winner over the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and Construction Party.

In about a month, the Libyan people will go to the polls and elect an assembly responsible for drafting a new constitution. In the wave of self-congratulation that is sure to precede this historic event, one could easily lose sight of one important fact: the Libyan state is still largely a work of fiction.

One might have gotten the impression that the wave of democratization which started in Tunisia and quickly spread to Egypt was destined to sweep through the entire region, leaving nothing an autocratic resonance autocracy in its wake.