| Political transition is defined as moving from an old regime to a new regime through different manners that could be peaceful or violent. Although political transition is a natural phenomenon that continuously occurs in different regions of the world, it was not expected to occur in the Arab world. The Arab world has been deprived of democracy for decades; there was no sign of change. Most Arab leaders prepared their sons to assume the power, but the events of 2011 developed rapidly in Tunis, Egypt, and Libya, which foiled their plans and surprised domestic and foreign observers alike. The contagion spread like wildfire to other Arab countries: some succeeded in changing their regimes, and others are still struggling for change. The military was the main actor in the political transition in Tunis, Egypt and Libya, whether through forcing their presidents to leave power as in Tunis and Egypt, or dividing into two parts as in Libya, which entered the country into civil war ended by the death of Qaddafi, who was one of the longest dictatorships in the world, holding political power for more than four decades.;This study concludes that the transition in Libya was more violent than in Egypt because of the low level of institutionalization of the Libyan military institution. Qaddafi deliberately weakened the military institution because he felt that it constituted a danger to his regime. For this reason, he established security battalions that were better armed than the regular military, and he appointed his sons, his tribe's members, and other loyalists as commanders of these battalions. There was no connection between these units as a single military institution. Once the revolution started, some military units joined the revolutionaries and others stood with the regime, which resulted in the armed conflict. In contrast, in Egypt, the country had established a strong military institution since the coup of 1952. The Egyptian military institution protected the country's institutions from vandalism and civilians during the 2011 revolution and put an end to Mubarak's regime. Despite the several hundred deaths in the Egyptian revolution, the military institution made the transition in Egypt more peaceful compared to Libya. |
