President Obama issued a statement Monday saying it seems that the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi, Libya’s leader of nearly 42 years, is imminent.

Over the course of the past six months, peaceful protests in the streets of Libya have given way to a civil war for control of the northern African coastal country. Now, Obama said, “the future of Libya is in the hands of its people.”

And at this point, a peaceful resolution following is far from a guarantee, said James Binney, lecturer in political science at Penn State U.

An overthrow by the rebels, Binney said, would only be the beginning of a dangerous time period for Libya.

“Some people suspect that Libya might degenerate into some type of tribal warfare,” Binney said. “Regional conflicts could still erupt.”

Joseph Wright, assistant professor of political science at Penn State, also said fighting could continue following Gadhafi’s potential demise. He said conflicts could particularly arise during attempts to establish a new form of government.

“I think the probability of peaceful elections is low because Gadhafi did such a thorough job of eliminating all political parties in Libya,” Wright said.

To Anthony Christina, vice-chairman of the Penn State College Republicans, the United States’ lack of ground troops in this conflict was a step in the right direction for American foreign policy.

“I think that after close to ten years of having ground troops in the Middle East, it is good to know that America can have a presence in world events without having our own troops on the ground,” said Christina (junior-history and political science.) “It is encouraging to see that America does not have to act as a referee in every conflict.”

Binney also said a U.S. course of action alongside NATO was appropriate for these circumstances.

“I think that the commitment of our support through NATO was the correct option given our current debt crisis and other current foreign conflicts,” Binney said.