Cover of Pax Syriana: Elite Politics in Postwar Lebanon

Pax Syriana: Elite Politics in Postwar Lebanon

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.

Read more

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.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 312 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Pax Syriana: Elite Politics in Postwar Lebanon? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Pax Syriana: Elite Politics in Postwar Lebanon. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Elite Capture Shares elite, political activity, politics
  2. Defenders of the Motherland Shares elite, political activity, politics
  3. Capitalism, culture, and decline in Britain, 1750-1990 Shares elite, politics, history
  4. Nationalism, myth, and the state in Russia and Serbia Shares elite, political activity, politics

“If you want more of the same (politics), start with these.”

  1. Political Writings
  2. The Pursuit of Ruins
  3. The Politics and Rhetoric of Commemoration
  4. Linguistic Inquiries into Donald Trump's Language

“If it was the elite that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Fascism Old and New
  2. A rich land, a poor people
  3. War and Peace in the Western Political Imagination
  4. Lave Revolution

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The Battle For Syria: International Rivalry In The New Middle East
  2. Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928
  3. The Levant in Turmoil
  4. The Concession of Évora Monte: The Failure of Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century Portugal