Pax Syriana: Elite Politics in Postwar Lebanon

by Rola El-Husseini

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815633044
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	10/15/2012
Series:	Modern Intellectual and Political History of the Middle East
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Rola El-Husseini is assistant professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M. Her articles have appeared in the Middle East Journal, Orient, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, and Third World Quarterly.

Table of Contents

Foreword Ryan Crocker ix

Acknowledgments xi

Note on Transliteration xiii

Introduction xv

1 The Lebanese Political System: The Elite Pacts of 1943 and 1989 1

2 Postwar Elite Interaction 23

3 Political Parties 38

4 State Elites and the Legacy of Corruption 86

5 Strategic Elites 122

6 Emerging Elites and the Absence of Women from Politics 160

7 Elite Attitudes on Syria and Sectarianism 187

Conclusion 214

Who's Who of Lebanese Politics 223

Lebanese Political Timeline (1989-2005) 231

Notes 233

Glossary of Arabic Terms 267

Bibliography 269

Index 291