Website
From the history that comes with Libya which is very large, there were not very many favorable ones, many of which either did not do their job or they were simply not liked by the general population due to the fact that they did not do things the people liked. From the attached link above, below is a more detailed history of the more influential leaders.
Past Leader: Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi
Idris of Libya was the first and only king of Libya, reigning from 1951 to 1969. During his rein of power he was one of the biggest advocate in freeing Libya from the ruling of the Italian population, during his fight for independence he had a lot of help from the British military where he was able to get back to his home town to take care of the rest of his business. From there he was able to eliminate the Italian and German population from Libya and that was when they were declared independent. Idris was very a such a great leader that Libya elected him to the status of King of Libya and with that is when he began to unite Libya under one single monarchy. Towards the end of his power in Libya he was overthrown by troops of a group led by Muammar Gaddafi and in 1983 he was sentenced to death, he was aged 94. He reined over Libya for 18 years.
Most Famous Leader: Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi was an iconic figue in Libyan history as well in the government system, he had very many followers of his thoughts but he also had a number of people that did not like him at all which is why he was killed in October of 2011.
In the beginning of his rise to power he was looked at as one of the greatest people that Libya would have to run their country, he had a variety of ideas that showed great promise for the Libyan society, his war tactics were polished due to his military training and he was a very strong leader of his troops. One of his first moves was to start a revolution that he named the "Popular Revolution" which he wanted to demolish all of the existing laws and replace them with his own. He was not a fan of any type of government other than his own, he wanted Libya to function under his ruling and nothing but. The Third Universal theory and Nationalism were his go to governing systems that he wanted used in Libya, if it was anything other than that he did not want anything to do with it. For a basis of the Popular Revolution Muammar created the Green Book which outlined many things which were explained in three volumes, the first dealt with the issues of having a democracy while outlining the flaws in the representative system. The second explained Gaddafi's beliefs of socialism and the last one explained social issues regarding the family and the tribe. These 'books' were examples of very radical reform that Gaddafi wanted to happen, soon after publishing Gaddafists began using quotes from the books as slogans for their actions within the community. From 1978 to approximately 2009 Muammar was in full force trying to turn Libya in to the "ideal" country that would include socialism at its finest, in his actions to make this happen he soon found out that his head of military operations was plotting to kill him, Gaddafi then ordered for him and his 'stray dogs' to be killed. Later on there were many accusations of Muammar plotting to cause harm to the population of Libya and surrounding countries including the US that is when the US got involved and discovered that he was making mustard gas in large quantities and then he proceeded to publicly deny that he was, this is the start of Muammar's downfall as a ruler. The 2000's is where the people that he attacked started to act out. March of 2011 NATO got involved and began to bomb portions of Libya to try and warn Gaddafi of what he was doing was wrong; in those bombings Gaddafi's 6th son was killed along with 3 of his 6 grandchildren were killed, the US later issued a warrant for Gaddafi's arrest. Later in September there was minimal protection for Gaddafi due to the fact that there was not many Gaddafists left to support and protect him, then on the 20th of October Gaddafi broke free of the protect village to join a convoy hoping to seek safety in a new location and at the same time of him joining the convoy, NATO began to bomb that location, Gaddafi was separated from the majority of his security. After some time of running and seeking shelter he was found hiding in a water pipeline by the Misratan militia and that is when they tortured/killed him by knifing him in the anus and shooting him in the stomach. Found later was nearly 60 of his militia officials and close friends dead by execution in a building. The death of Gaddafi was highly publicized in the US.
In the beginning of his rise to power he was looked at as one of the greatest people that Libya would have to run their country, he had a variety of ideas that showed great promise for the Libyan society, his war tactics were polished due to his military training and he was a very strong leader of his troops. One of his first moves was to start a revolution that he named the "Popular Revolution" which he wanted to demolish all of the existing laws and replace them with his own. He was not a fan of any type of government other than his own, he wanted Libya to function under his ruling and nothing but. The Third Universal theory and Nationalism were his go to governing systems that he wanted used in Libya, if it was anything other than that he did not want anything to do with it. For a basis of the Popular Revolution Muammar created the Green Book which outlined many things which were explained in three volumes, the first dealt with the issues of having a democracy while outlining the flaws in the representative system. The second explained Gaddafi's beliefs of socialism and the last one explained social issues regarding the family and the tribe. These 'books' were examples of very radical reform that Gaddafi wanted to happen, soon after publishing Gaddafists began using quotes from the books as slogans for their actions within the community. From 1978 to approximately 2009 Muammar was in full force trying to turn Libya in to the "ideal" country that would include socialism at its finest, in his actions to make this happen he soon found out that his head of military operations was plotting to kill him, Gaddafi then ordered for him and his 'stray dogs' to be killed. Later on there were many accusations of Muammar plotting to cause harm to the population of Libya and surrounding countries including the US that is when the US got involved and discovered that he was making mustard gas in large quantities and then he proceeded to publicly deny that he was, this is the start of Muammar's downfall as a ruler. The 2000's is where the people that he attacked started to act out. March of 2011 NATO got involved and began to bomb portions of Libya to try and warn Gaddafi of what he was doing was wrong; in those bombings Gaddafi's 6th son was killed along with 3 of his 6 grandchildren were killed, the US later issued a warrant for Gaddafi's arrest. Later in September there was minimal protection for Gaddafi due to the fact that there was not many Gaddafists left to support and protect him, then on the 20th of October Gaddafi broke free of the protect village to join a convoy hoping to seek safety in a new location and at the same time of him joining the convoy, NATO began to bomb that location, Gaddafi was separated from the majority of his security. After some time of running and seeking shelter he was found hiding in a water pipeline by the Misratan militia and that is when they tortured/killed him by knifing him in the anus and shooting him in the stomach. Found later was nearly 60 of his militia officials and close friends dead by execution in a building. The death of Gaddafi was highly publicized in the US.
Present Leader: Abdullah al-Thanay
Abdullah been serving as the Prime Minister of Libya since April 8th, 2014, so he has not been in power for too long, but since he has been the acting Prime Minister he has negotiated with rebels to free 2 of the 4 blockaded oil ports that will bring in a lot of revenue for the country. He has threatened to resign due to the fact that the people of Libya do not have full invested power in him, when that happened the congress finally made him full Prime Minister and gave him more power in order to deal with Libya's problems. Recently he has resigned on April 13th, 2014 due to "traitorous attacks" on his family but he will remain Prime Minister until a replacement is found.