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Kings, Queens, Rooks and Pawns: Towards Deciphering the Lebanese Political Chessboard

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Eric Bordenkircher*
Affiliation:
University of California at Los Angeles

Extract

The delineation and comprehension of the Lebanese political map can often be an exercise in futility. On almost any given day, one can just scour the headlines of the Lebanese press and observe the presentation of Lebanese domestic politics in the context of regional/extra-regional developments or its literal interaction with external actors/states. For example, on 6 May 2010, two of the leading Lebanese dailies, As-Safir and Ad-Diyar, carried distinct front page headlines which captured this reality. The leading As-Safir headline proclaimed, “The return of Junblatt from Riyadh: Mutually confirms the importance of peace with Syria.” The leading Ad-Diyar headline stated, “Municipal Elections move forward under the auspices of a Syrian-Saudi-French understanding.“

Type
Special Section
Copyright
Copyright © Middle East Studies Association of North America, Inc. 2013 

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References

End Notes

1 Ad-Diyār: Al-intkhābāt al-baladiyyah tasīr fī zilli al-tafāhum as-Sūryī as-Saʿūdī al-Fransī. As-Safīr.Junblāt al-ʿīda min al-Riyād: ta ʾKīd mutabādal li-aḥmiyyati al-musālaḥah maʿSūriyā.

2 For example Nawaf Salam provides a “stars were aligned” explanation for the Taʾif Accord. Salam, Nawaf, “Taif Revisited” in Lebanon in Limbo: Postwar Society and State in an Uncertain Regional Environment, Hanf, Theodor and Salam, Nawaf, editors (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgeschellschaft, 2003), 40.Google Scholar

3 Meo, Leila, Lebanon: Improbable Nation—A Study in Political Development, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1965.Google Scholar Politcs in Lebanon, Binder, Leonard, editor (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1966.Google Scholar Hudson, Michael, The Precarious Republic: Political Modernization in Lebanon, New York: Random House, 1968.Google Scholar Khoury, Enver The Operational Capability of the Lebanese Political System, Beirut: Catholic Press, 1972.Google Scholar Salem, Elie, Modernization without Revolution: Lebanon's Experience, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973.Google Scholar Dekmejian, Richard Hrair, “Consociational Democracy in Crisis: The Case of Lebanon.” Comparative Politics 10, No. 1 (1978): 251265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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5 Lipjhart, 28.

6 Nehme, Michael, “Lebanon: Open Arena for Regional Feuds,” Journal of Third World Studies 12, No. 1 (1995): 120-50.Google Scholar Khalaf, Samir, Civil and Uncivil Violence in Lebanon(New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), 122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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8 Barry, Brian, “Political Accommodation and Consociational Democracy,” British Journal of Political Science 5 No. 4 (1975): 501502.Google Scholar Tsebelis, George, Nested Games: Rational Choice in Comparative Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 162-3.Google Scholar

9 Tsebelis, George, Veto Players: How Political Institutions Work (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2002), 6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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11 Tsebelis, 1999:168.

12 lbid., 171.

13 Ibid., 168-9.

14 Tsebelis, 2002:19.

15 Word limitations have forced me to simplify some aspects.

16 Nasrallah, Fida, “Lebanon: The Second Republic,” Mediterranean Politics, Vol. II, Gillespie, Richard, editor (London: Pinter, 1996), 199200.Google Scholar Salamey and Payne, “Confessionalism,” 462.

17 It is important to note that these political offices have largely become synonymous with specific confessions.

18 Maila, Joseph, The Document of National Understanding: A Commentary(Oxford: Centre for Lebanese Studies, 1992), 41.Google Scholar

19 In February 2006, Hezbollah signed a “working agreement” or “Memorandum of Joint Understanding” with Michael Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement which effectively divided the Maronite community between the Sunni and Shia.

20 NDI Final Report on the Lebanese Parliamentary Elections, 79-80. http://www.ndi.org/ node/16115.

21 lbid., 79-80. The current electoral system has protected Hezbollah and Amal from competition from within the Shia community. Salamey and Payne, 461.

22 Gemayel's seat was lost.

23 NDI, 77-79.

24 Ajami, Joseph, “Lebanese Elections 2005 Version: Land Liberation or Mind Liberation?American Behavioral Scientist 49 (2005): 634639.Google Scholar

25 “La Jamaa islamiya ne reviendra pas sur sa décision de boycotter les elections,” L'Orient Lejour, 15 June 2005.