Course Details
Country:
France
Institution:
Université Paris I Dauphine
Course Title:
Lebanon : Consociational Politics, Civil War and Resistance
Course Number:
0ISSLY04
Course Description:
In the study of state and politics in the Middle East, Lebanon is a puzzling case. The consociational distribution of power between no less than eighteen official religious sects has turned Lebanon’s politics into a zero-sum-game. As a consequence, it has prevented the emergence of a supra-sectarian authority that could be called a “state” in the Western sense of the concept. This institutional weakness generates a paradox. It threatens the country’s sovereignty by making it more vulnerable to regional and global powers. From a civil war (1975-1990) and the Israeli occupation of its south (1978-2000), to the relative calm of Syrian tutelage (1990-2005), regular turbulence periods since and another war with Israel (2006), the war in neighboring Syria, Lebanon gives the impression of great instability and unpredictability. The positions of its main actors often seem to answer to different, contradictory rationalities.
Language:
English
Approved Equivalent:
GOVT 444, GOVT 398, CRIM 485
Attachment Files:
