Muammar Gaddafi encouraged policies.
Muammar Gaddafi . He governed Libya as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then as the `` Brotherly Leader '' of the Great Socialist People 's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011 . An Islamic modernist , he introduced sharia as the basis for the legal system and promoted `` Islamic socialism '' . In 1973 , he initiated a `` Popular Revolution '' with the formation of General People 's Committees , purported to be a system of direct democracy , but retained personal control over major decisions . From 1999 , Gaddafi rejected Arab socialism and encouraged economic privatisation , rapprochement with Western nations , and Pan-Africanism ; he was Chairperson of the African Union from 2009 -- 10 .