21. The Arab Mao
Gaddafi saw himself as a messiah. Modeling himself on Chairman Mao, he published The Little Green Book, containing a political philosophy labeled The Third International Theory – a mix of direct democracy, Arab and African nationalism, and Islamic socialism – as an alternative to capitalism and communism.
The book was required reading for Libyans, and formed the theoretical basis of Gaddafi’s government. In reality, Libya was a kleptocratic dictatorship, governed on the basis of nepotism to enrich Gaddafi’s family and his tribe, with a grossly mismanaged economy that survived solely due to an abundance of oil and gas.