How to squander a nations potential

Such assertions of grandeur still produce sniggers,but Mr Qaddafi can claim to have chalked up numerous recent diplomatic successes. Libya currently sits as a rotating member of the United Nations Security Council,a privilege inconceivable in the years when President Ronald Reagan described Mr Qaddafi as a mad dog. The Libyan leaders first-ever trip to America,expected later in September for an address to the UN General Assembly,will mark a further sign of return from pariahdom. This follows Mr Qaddafis recent appearance on the margins of a G8 summit,and visits to him by the leaders of Britain,France and Russia,as well as Americas then secretary of state,Condoleezza Rice.

Such prizes are rewards for a decade-long effort to extract Libya from the limbo into which Mr Qaddafi had led it through his dabbling in terrorism and his reckless support for radical causes,including those of various unsavoury Palestinian factions and the IRA. The comeback started with the Libyan leaders acceptance of blame for the 1988 bombing of an airliner over Lockerbie as well as for the similarly grisly 1989 bombing of a French aircraft. But Mr Qaddafis big break came after the terrorist attacks on America in 2001. Having faced down its own jihadist insurgency and been the first government to request an international arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden,the Libyan regime joined enthusiastically in the Bush administrations war on terror. As America plotted to invade Iraq,asserting that the countrys alleged weapons of mass destruction represented an immediate danger,Libya,caught out in its own nuclear dabblings,set what was seen as a salutary example by declaring it would not only abandon its secret weapons programme,but also expose its network of suppliers.

Mr Qaddafi is reaping rewards for his reformed behaviour at home too. Tripoli,Libyas capital,is sprouting fancy new hotels,as well as a new airport,to welcome an influx of would-be investors and tourists. Literacy is now nearly universal among schoolchildren. Life expectancy has gone up by 20 years,and infant mortality has fallen to less than a tenth of the level it was at the time of the revolution.

Yet such gains ought to be unremarkable for a country that exports nearly as much oil,per head,as Saudi Arabia: a total of 46 billion-worth last year,divided among just 6m people. In fact,Libya trails far behind other oil-rich states by many measures,and not just in the contrast between Tripolis garbage-strewn thoroughfares and the gleaming Miami-scapes of the Gulf. As any Libyan who recalls the days before Mr Qaddafis revolution can attest,this is a country where something has gone very wrong.

Things are not so bad as in the dark days of the 1980s,when the Great Leader experimented with ruinous social theories and had dissidents hunted and shot. Yet while Libyas peculiar form of socialism still brings free education and health care,along with subsidised housing and transport,trade unions remain banned,along with nearly every kind of independent social organisation. Salaries are extremely low,thus keeping Libyans cash-poor even as billions stack up in foreign reserves,or in the pockets of a narrow band of regime insiders. A lack of jobs outside the government has led to youth unemployment of perhaps 30 or more all statistics in Libya are as blurry as a Saharan sandstorm.

Such shortcomings reflect more than simple inefficiencies. Mr Qaddafis Libya is a country that has been systemically mismanaged for a generation,at virtually every level of government. And among other systems that have no clear order is the one for deciding who will succeed him. Two of Mr Qaddafis seven sons are generally considered candidates,though the star of Saif,the elder son who has taken an interest in human-rights issues,appears to be waning in favour of Mutassim,whose lower profile disguises a powerful role in the security services. Both are thought to have strongly influenced their fathers mellowing trend in recent years. But it will take more than pots of cash and calmer ties with the West to bring Libya anywhere close to meeting its potential.

The Economist Newspaper Limited 2009