Wuhan,Fighting for Life

On the evening of May 20, 2020, I went down into my residential compound to get the COVID-19 testing authorities had decided to roll out for all residents of Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province. One of the medical workers con-ducting the tests asked me, "Where are you from?" I replied, "Lebanon." She said she didn't know the Chinese Government was also examining and taking care of foreigners. I interrupted her by saying, "Yes, and it's for free, too."     

Intellectuals and Political Power in Social Movements: The Parallel Paths of Fadlallah and Hizbullah

This article examines the intellectual impact of Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah (1935–2010) on Hizbullah's political behaviour. Many depicted Fadlallah as the ‘spiritual guide’ and ‘oracle’ of Hizbullah, while others accentuated his socio-political independence and the potential he represented as an ‘alternative’ to Hizbullah and Iran. This study argues that Fadlallah directly influenced Hizbullah's political worldviews, but the Islamic movement's socialisation in Lebanon, its dependence on Iran and its war with Israel have led it to pursue a separate path from Fadlallah. But despite the separation, the Ayatollah shared a common world vision with Hizbullah and the Islamic Republic, and would not have formed an alternative. The article is divided into two sections. The first examines the socio-political origins of Fadlallah and Hizbullah as an intellectual and a political movement, respectively, and conceptualises the discursive and political fields that motivate the behaviour of the two actors. The second section assesses the impact of Fadlallah's ideas on Hizbullah by focusing on three main themes: (1) Islamic liberation and resistance against injustice; (2) the Islamic state and Lebanon; and (3) Wilayat al-Faqih and Islamic Iran.     

Back to the future: the Arab uprisings and state (re)formation in the Arab world

This article contributes to debates that aim to go beyond the “democratization” and “post-democratization” paradigms to understand change and continuity in Arab politics. In tune with calls to focus on the actualities of political dynamics, the article shows that the literatures on State Formation and Contentious Politics provide useful theoretical tools to understand change/continuity in Arab politics. It does so by examining the impact of the latest Arab uprisings on state formation trajectories in Iraq and Syria. The uprisings have aggravated a process of regime erosion – which originated in post-colonial state-building attempts – by mobilizing sectarian and ethnic identities and exposing the counties to geo-political rivalries and intervention, giving rise to trans-border movements, such as ISIS. The resulting state fragmentation has obstructed democratic transition in Syria and constrained its consolidation in Iraq.     

The Diagnostic Value of Quantitative Assessment of Diatom Test for Drowning: An Analysis of 128 Water‐related Death Cases using Microwave Digestion‐Vacuum Filtration‐Automated Scanning Electron Microscopy

The value of diatom test for the diagnosis of drowning remains controversial. The conventional forensic diatom test with low sensitivity is not a useful tool to provide accurate information about diatom in the tissues and organs. To improve the sensitivity of the diatom test, we developed a novel method called the Microwave Digestion‐Vacuum Filtration‐Automated Scanning Electron Microscopy (MD‐VF‐Auto SEM) method which resulted in a high recovery of diatoms. In this article, we analyzed 128 water‐related death cases. Our results showed that the MD‐VF‐Auto SEM method could achieve a much higher positive rate (0.97) in drowning cases. Large amounts of diatoms are retained, even concentrated, in the lung tissues during the intense breathing movement in drowning process. This might be useful for the diagnosis of drowning. Our research indicates that the MD‐VF‐Auto SEM method would be a valuable methodology in the study of diatom test for the forensic community.     

Stability Under Late State Formation: the Case of Lebanon

The aim of this article is to explain variations in the stability of Lebanon. Against synchronic and domestic treatments of state stability in the developing world, this article historicises state stability, arguing that there is a time gap dividing old states, which structure the international system, and states in late formation. It argues that variation in the stability of Lebanon is a function of early state formation and the country's position in the state system. This study finds a causal relation between the intensity of regional conflict and level of stability in Lebanon. Historical asymmetrical differences among Lebanon's communities meant that responses to regional crises in Lebanon varied in accordance with the position of each actor in the domestic balance of power. These multiple responses have led to internal instability. The more intense the regional conflict, the more unstable Lebanon has tended to become, and vice versa.