The Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon [Paperback]

The Arab Spring unsettled regimes across North Africa and the Middle East, from Morocco to Oman. Lebanon, however, proved immune. How can that be explained? What features of Lebanese politics and governance could account for the system’s ability to withstand the domestic and regional pressures unleashed by the Arab Spring?
 
The Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanonbuilds on extensive field work to find the answers to those questions and more. Bassel Salloukh, Lebanon’s leading political scientist, analyses the mix of institutional, clientelist, and discursive practices that sustain the sectarian nature of Lebanon, revealing an expanding sectarian web that occupies ever-more-substantial areas of everyday life in Lebanon. It also highlights the struggles waged by opponents of the system, including women, public sector employees, teachers, students, and NGO-based coalitions, and how their efforts often fail to bear fruit because of sabotage by various systematic forces.

Bassel F. Salloukhis associate professor of political science at the Lebanese American University.Rabie Barakatis a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Edinburgh.Jinan S. Al-Habbalis a PhD candidate in international relations at the University of St Andrews.Lara W. KhattabandShoghig Mikaelianare PhD candidates in political science at Concordia University in Montreal.

1. Introduction
2. A Political History of Sectarian Institutions
3. Institutions, Sectarian Populism, and the Production of Docile Subjects
4. Neoliberal Sectarianism and Associational Life
5. Sectarianism and Struggles for Socioeconomic Rights
6. Elections, Electoral Laws, and Sectarianism
7. Between Sectarianism and Military Development: The Paradox of the Lebanese Armed Forces
8. The Postwar Mediascape and Sectarian Demonizing
9. Overlapping Domestic/Geopolitical Contests, HizbullÃN