Abstract
On August 30, 2008 in Benghazi, Libya and Italy signed the Treaty on Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation,2 after a long negotiating process that began under previous Italian governments and was signed by the contemporary Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The treaty entered into force on March 2, 2009, when ratifications were exchanged during Prime Minister Berlusconi’s visit to Libya. The signing of the Benghazi Treaty by the Italian and Libyan leaders resulted in varied reactions from politicians, scholars, commentators, and prominent figures from international organizations.3 While some may have opposed or had reservations on certain provisions of the treaty, others supported it and considered it a first step towards the process of narrowing the gap of differences between the two sides. As the Benghazi Treaty is a bilateral partnership agreement, it reflects political-security, economic-financial, and social-cultural dimensions simultaneously. But, the description and analysis of the Benghazi Treaty reflect the methodological aspects of this study; therefore, the next subsection will explore the dimension of data and methodology. arabic 20 English 101