The Catalyst team met with Celia Benhocine to discuss her upcoming article “Renewed Civil War in Libya: Assessing Potential Outcomes” in the upcoming Spring 2021 edition of Chrysalis. Her paper evaluates the plausibility of the formation of a unity government, a descent into further conflict, and the continuation of conflict over the coming three years, using the “rebellion as business” theoretical framework.
Celia Benhocine is a third year Honours undergraduate student at McGill University. She is studying International Development and Economics, and served as VP Finance for the IDSSA for the 2020-2021 academic year. Her paper about the Libyan civil war received acclaim at the 2021 Quebec Undergraduate Security Conference, and she is very happy to be featured in this edition of Chrysalis to present her work.
While conducting this research, she became aware of the role of disinformation campaigns led by international actors in influencing perceived legitimacy for domestic political actors in Libya. This peaked her interest for the completion of her upcoming undergraduate thesis on digital authoritarianism in the Middle East. More broadly, Celia’s academic interests include the political economy, development economics, and the politics of disinformation in shaping attitudes and governance. Her research ambitions stem from her family’s scientific background, so one could say she brings the science to social science. Besides academics, she is also passionate about music and singing.
In particular, she enjoys this multipurpose outlet to connect with her Amazigh roots, but also just for its beauty and the sense of community she found in it, mainly at Effusion a cappella. Over the summer, she will be completing research internships at the INRS and at McGill.
Video edited by Sena Lee.
Read the Spring 2021 issue of Chrysalis here.
