This work aims to shed light on the evolution of the Lebanese political arena after the withdrawal of Syrian troops in April 2005 by analyzing the perceptions of Hizballah among members of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), as the alliance between the two groups enters its fourth year. Hizballah is generally well portrayed among FPM members although the two constituencies have very few elements in common. Different backgrounds, confessions, political views and cultural traits distinguish them.

The recent political history of Lebanon has been defined by the legacy of war. In addition to repeated external invasions and the ongoing presence of foreign troops of diverse nationalities, the Lebanese people have endured the scars left by a bitterly contested civil war that began in the spring of 1975 and continued unabated for the next fifteen years. While much has been written about the tragedy of the civil war, el-Husseini’s Pax Syriana is the first book focused on the evolution of the postwar political scene. In a series of negotiations brokered by Saudi Arabia, under the auspices of the larger international community, the civil war came to an end with the signing of the Ta’if Agreement. This agreement ushered in an era of Syrian control and rule by a disparate group of power elites. El-Husseini provides an in-depth account of how the political elite left an indelible mark on the Lebanese state and society. Through extensive field work and firsthand interviews, el-Husseini offers an intimate portrait of postwar Lebanon and shows how the Syrian influence brought a degree of stability to this fragmented nation and yet simultaneously undermined the development of a full constitutional democracy as Lebanon began to acquire some of the authoritarian character of the Syrian regime.

"The complex relationship between Syria and Lebanon is the political fulcrum of the Middle East, and has dominated headlines since the withdrawal of French colonial forces from the Levant in 1943. One of the great paradoxes of this relationship is how two such very different political systems emerged in what many Syrian and Lebanese people see as one society. At the time of independence, it was assumed that only the divide-and-rule strategies of foreign powers kept the Arab peoples artificially separated. In this major new book, Youssef Chaitani examines how, despite the prevalence of Arab nationalism and the regression of imperial interference, Syria and Lebanon became more divided, rather than more integrated in the post-independence period. Drawing on untapped sources from the archives of Western foreign offices and the local press, Chaitani uncovers the strategies and motivations of both countries' elites during this period, and produces conclusions which have major implications for our understanding of Arab nationalism, as well as the complexities of the Syrian-Lebanese relationship."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

The book describes the complexity of Lebanese politics by revealing the challenges embedded in the management of plurality, including institutional paralysis and system stagnations. It pays particular attention to the Lebanese state's adaptations to post-Arab Spring politics.

This book explores the thirty-year trajectory of the Free Patriotic Movement that aimed to achieve the freedom, sovereignty and independence of Lebanon from the Lebanese political elite and Syrian hegemony. It sheds light on the movement’s activism, changes and sectarianism throughout the stages of movement emergence, persistence and party transformation. The author shows how the movement built on opportunities that culminated in its rise, both in civil society and nationally, despite a number of challenges. The book also reveals the formation of intricate units and communication channels to mobilize activism and increase commitment to the movement’s cause. While discussing the significance of Michel Aoun and Gebran Bassil to the future of the FPM, the author asserts that various party dimensions and practices are conditioned by regional and international politics.

After six decades of protracted refugeehood, patterns of social identification are changing among the young people of the fourth refugee generation in the Palestinian refugee camp Burj al-Shamali in Southern Lebanon. Though their identity as Palestinian refugees remains the same compared to older refugee generations, there is an important shift in the young refugees’ relationship towards the homeland, their status as refugees, Islam, the camp society, as well as in their relationship towards religious or ethnic “others” in and outside Lebanon. This ePaper examines how technology, globalisation and outside influences have impacted the young Palestinians’ interpretation of their identity and their understanding of Palestinianness. The author concludes with reflections on the young refugees’ attitudes towards their Palestinian identity in the diaspora, which, as she argues, can only survive when the young refugees see their identity as a virtue rather than as a hindrance.

The principle of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of states is one of the most venerable principles of international law. Although not expressly mentioned in the Charter of the United Nations, at least as an inter-state prohibition, the principle currently appears in a plethora of treaties and UN General Assembly resolutions and has been invoked like a mantra by states of all geographical and political denominations. Despite this, the determination of its exact content has remained an enigma. International Law and the Principle of Non-Intervention: History, Theory, and Interactions with Other Principles solves this enigma by exploring what constitutes an 'intervention' in international law and when interventions are unlawful. These questions are approached from three different perspectives, which are reflected in the book's structure: historical, theoretical, and systematic. Through a comprehensive survey of primary documents and of over 200 cases of intervention from the mid-18th century to the present day, as well as an extensive literature search, this work provides an in-depth analysis of the principle of non-intervention which links it to fundamental notions of international law, including sovereignty, use of force, self-determination, and human rights protection.

This book provides a systematic analysis of the principle of non-intervention from a historical, theoretical, and systematic perspective. Roscini argues that the principle is strictly linked to some fundamental notions of international law, such as sovereignty, use of force, self-determination, and human rights protection.

In Spoils of Truce, Reinoud Leenders documents the extensive corruption that accompanied the reconstruction of Lebanon after the end of a decade and a half of civil war. With the signing of the Ta’if peace accord in 1989, the rebuilding of the country’s shattered physical infrastructure and the establishment of a functioning state apparatus became critical demands. Despite the urgent needs of its citizens, however, graft was rampant. Leenders describes the extent and nature of this corruption in key sectors of the Lebanese economy and government, including transportation, health care, energy, natural resources, construction, and social assistance programs. Exploring in detail how corruption implicated senior policymakers and high-ranking public servants, Leenders offers a clear-eyed perspective on state institutions in the developing world. He also addresses the overriding role of the Syrian leadership’s interests in Lebanon and in particular its manipulation of the country’s internal differences. His qualitative and disaggregated approach to dissecting the politics of creating and reshaping state institutions complements the more typical quantitative methods used in the study of corruption. More broadly, Spoils of Truce will be uncomfortable reading for those who insist that power-sharing strategies in conflict management and resolution provide some sort of panacea for divided societies hoping to recover from armed conflict.

In this book, the distinguished scholar Hanna Batatu presents a comprehensive analysis of the recent social, economic, and political evolution of Syria's peasantry, the segment of society from which the current holders of political power stem. Batatu focuses mainly on the twentieth century and, in particular, on the Ba`th movement, the structures of power after the military coup d'état of 1963, and the era of îvfiz al-Asad, Syria's first ruler of peasant extraction. Without seeking to prove any single theory about Syrian life, he offers a uniquely rich and detailed account of how power was transferred from one demographic group to another and how that power is maintained today. Batatu begins by examining social differences among Syria's peasants and the evolution of their mode of life and economic circumstances. He then scrutinizes the peasants' forms of consciousness, organization, and behavior in Ottoman and Mandate times and prior to the Ba`thists' rise to power. He explores the rural aspects of Ba`thism and shows that it was not a single force but a plurality of interrelated groups--prominent among them the descendants of the lesser rural notables--with different social goals and mental horizons. The book also provides a perceptive account of President Asad, his personality and conduct, and the characteristics and power structures of his regime. Batatu draws throughout on a wide range of socioeconomic and biographical information and on personal interviews with Syrian peasants and political leaders, offering invaluable insights into the complexities of a country and a regime that have long been poorly understood by outsiders.