By: Alan Cohan

Unbiased view on this topic Attempt to play the devils advocate Highlighting the pros and cons of every ideology and system implemented by the government

http://www.freedomhouse.org/rep ort/freedom- world/2011/libya#.U2rXhYFdW8A

Two short years after the death and dethroning of tyrant Muammar Gadhafi, the country's political freedom rank has increased to a four on the freedomhouse.org freedom scale. Granted, this is still not incredibly high on the scale and is only a marginal improvement because of how badly it was rated in years prior.

In March 2013, a representative of the government called for a ban on women marrying foreign men and woman mixing with men in the workplace because it encouraged unethical behavior. Also, only 83% of woman over the age of 15 can read. This shows that woman do not get the same kind of education as men.

Libyas stance on Religious freedom is a tricky one. On one hand they accept religions other than Islam. Yet on the other hand they criminalize the proselytizing (the changing of one religion to another) of Muslim people. Another prohibited religious activity is the reproduction and importing of bibles. Mixed message???

One point that must be kept in mind is that Libya is a 97% Islamic nation meaning that the government must follow the Islam guidelines. Many of the Islamic beliefs are controversial and can sometimes be restrictive on people (woman especially). With this in mind, it is difficult for the government to completely disregard the book that nearly everyone follows in their country. Taking credit away from the government is how the allow so little individual freedom. Individual freedom is something everyone should be entitled to at its fullest level.

Individuals not associated with the government may not posses any firearms Alcohol has been banned since 1969 and other drug use is highly illegal Freedom of speech has made great strides from the Gadhafi era to post-Gadhafi era. This is largely attributed to the fact that people were tired of being censored by the government. Libya ranked 131 in the free-press index in 2013 although is was a 23 spot improvement from 2012 (just as a comparison Venezuela ranked 117 so be grateful for what you have and stop complaining about what you dont

Libyan people have the right to vote for whomever they choose to for the most part. There have been some banned parties like the Libyan Popular National Movement. This party was banned because the leader was connected to one of Gadhafi's sons. Libyan people value political freedom more than anything after the excruciating 42 years under the Gadhafi regime. This is one thing that people in Libya have a firm grasp on and will not allow anyone to gain to much power. The political sovereignty in Libya can be affected by the many militias that helped overthrow Gadhafi. These militias go around doing what the want and it can influence the government

Overall, political freedom in Libya is not good. It is good in the sense that one may vote for whomever they want but since Libyas government is still in a transitional stage things can be a little chaotic when it comes to decision making. After the overthrow of the Gadhafi regime, Libya has not quite gotten a good grasp on the government. In Libya it is very unclear whom is making the decisions when it comes to politics. This is largely because of the rebel groups that still roam the streets of Libya.

Libya has some national freedom but not entirely Libya has basically NO influence from other countries or groups Libyas government is still in a transitional stage and therefore still do not make all the laws themselves. In fact it is reported that many of the laws and rules are made by some non-government affiliated people (rebels).

Order can be difficult to maintain in Libya because the many militias that still patrol the streets following their own rules. Law enforcement in Libya has been trained by the United kingdom to fight off any other threats (mostly militia)