I thought Gaddafi would be an interesting case study to compare Diamond's findings to, especially since Gaddafi relied on Islam as an ideological tool for his regime.

When watching the video I was mainly focused on analyzing political economy. However, some other points of interests:

-Gaddafi's notorious Green Book was used a tool of propaganda, explicitly seen in how it was taught in schools

-Gaddafi's decision to combine socialist politics with Islam makes his case unique. Furthermore, his decision to publish his ideology as "Third International Theory," makes his strategy very similar to the legitimation strategies of North Korea and their Juche.

-Gaddafi was thoroughly entrenched in the Cold War. It seems like he often relied on external legitimation for his regime, either by supporting smaller regime in Africa, or calling on the support of larger regimes like the Soviet Union. Also Gaddafi's efforts to create a pan-Arab state, such as with Egypt and Syria, clearly shows this external legitimation.

After watching the video on Gaddafi's Libya I can see this conclusion being supported. The video mentions how prior to Gaddafi's military coup, Libya's oil was extracted by foreign corporations. In the aftermath of the World Wars, the Allied Powers placed a pro-Western monarchy, much like in Iran.

What Gaddafi did differently, that after his military coup, he pursued a policy of nationalizing Libya's oil reserves. It is here that we can see the beginnings of Libya's oil trap. It can be argued that this oil trap pre-dates the Gaddafi regime, but what is certain is that Gaddafi's nationalization of the oil industry ultimately made his regime unaccountable to democratic control. This is where we can see a long list of human rights abuses within his regime. Ultimately, it was the repressive state apparatus that Libyans protested against during the Arab Spring.