- For other uses, see Green Book (disambiguation).
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The Green Book (Arabic الكتاب الأخضر) is a book written by the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, first published in 1975, outlining his views on democracy and his political philosophy. It consists of three parts:
- The Solution of the Problem of Democracy: 'The Authority of the People'
- The Solution of the Economic Problem: 'Socialism'
- The Social Basis of the Third Universal Theory
The book is controversial in that it completely rejects modern liberal democracy and encourages the institution of a form of direct democracy based on popular committees. Critics charge that Qaddafi uses these committees as tools of autocratic political repression in practice. An English translation is available from the Libyan government, and there are digital versions (see below) available. A bilingual (English and Arabic) edition, presented as the first volume of many, was issued in London by Martin, Brian & O'Keeffe in 1976.
Trivia
The "Green Book" was also the name of the training manual of the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, one of the many armed paramilitary organizations that Qaddafi "mentored" (with funding, training, and weapons) in the 1970s and 1980s. Although earlier editions of this book had been published for use by the IRA, the author Ed Moloney claims that the Provisional leadership under Gerry Adams was inspired by Qaddafi to rename their manual "Green Book" in 1977[1].
