War Museums in Postwar Lebanon: Memory,Violence, and Performance

Abstract

This article examines three museums that address Lebanon’s history of conflict: the newly opened Beit Beirut on the capital’s former Green Line, the Hezbollah-run Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark in south Lebanon, and Umam Documentation and Research’s online archive “Memory at Work.” Each testing the parameters of what the term museum can mean in Lebanon today, these cases highlight the still-contested nature of war narratives. While many Lebanese youth express desire for a shared national history of the civil war, the affective complexities of recuperated memorial sites and the inconsistent involvement of the state suggest that the possibility of publicly staging such a history is far from secure.     

黎巴嫩投资市场分析

黎巴嫩共和国 (简称"黎巴嫩")位于亚洲西南部、地中海东岸,北部和东部邻叙利亚,南界以色列,西濒地中海.海岸线长220公里,全境长约193公里,平均宽约56公里,国土面积10 452平方公里.全国人口约393万(2007年)①,以阿拉伯民族为主体.54%的居民信奉伊斯兰教,主要是什叶派、逊尼派和德鲁兹派;46%的居民信奉基督教,主要有马龙派、希腊东正教、罗马天主教和亚美尼亚东正教等.     

Formal and Informal Consociational Institutions: A Comparison of the National Pact and the Taif Agreement in Lebanon

Abstract

In the past decades, New Institutionalism in political science has rekindled an interest in the role of institutions and has theorized the interaction between formal and informal institutions. Unfortunately, little of this has made its way into the consociational literature. This article brings together the two bodies of work, focusing on the case of Lebanon because it allows for a unique analysis over time of the different ways in which consociational features have been institutionalized. The National Pact of 1943 was a gentleman’s agreement between the political leaders of the two main religious communities. It formed the basis of a consociational system that lasted for decades. After the civil war, the Taif Agreement reintroduced consociationalism, but this time more institutions were constitutionalized. However, it would be mistaken to view this as a simple contrast between informal (pre–civil war) versus formal (post–civil war) consociationalism, because even today the most important consociational institution is informal. This article traces the development and interaction of informal and formal consociational institutions in Lebanon. In doing so, it contributes not only to the consociational literature and the debate about the merits of liberal versus corporate consociations, but also to New Institutionalism and questions about the relative strength of formal versus informal institutions.     

Lebanon: country profile

A brief profile of Lebanon's economy, people, health, culture and political situation is presented. Lebanon has an estimated 3.5 million people, with a Maronite Christian elite, a Muslim Shiite majority, and Muslim Sunnis and Druze groups. The infant mortality is estimated at 41/1000; literacy is 69% among women and 86% among men; life expectancy was 66 years, 10 years ago. The economy, previously thriving on banking, manufacturing and agriculture, is now decimated, and Lebanon's once active tourist industry, based on elegant facilities in Beirut and neighboring beaches and ski slopes, is the victim of 15 years of civil strife. Israel has invaded, supporting Maronite Christians, Syria has invaded in support Muslim and Druze militias, and Iran has aggressively supported Shiite factions.     

Humanitarian Intervention and Communal Civil Wars:

How do policymakers in democratic nations mobilize support for hard-line strategies? Existing answers to this question emphasize the exaggeration of external threats. Yet this overlooks an important dilemma: because democratic citizens expect their leaders to explore peaceful solutions or less aggressive alternatives when foreign dangers are ambiguous, the same conditions that make threat inflation necessary also make it difficult to employ successfully. To mobilize support for hard-line measures when the public wants its leaders to demonstrate restraint, policymakers may therefore attempt to shift blame onto an adversary by using “counterfeit diplomacy.” Specifically, democratic leaders may adopt more cooperative or less coercive options than they believe are necessary, but which they anticipate will fail. This approach can be a risky one, however, because an opponent might accept a nation's demands, accede to its conditions, or offer counterproposals in the hope of diffusing support for more confrontational measures.     

Features of smuggling in Wadi Khaled,Lebanon

Through survey research, we investigate the potential socio‐economic impact of tighter Lebanese–Syrian border controls on the impoverished community of Wadi Khaled. We demonstrate that, given the lack of Lebanese infrastructure and meaningful development in the region, residents of Wadi Khaled rely on illegal cross-border traffic to meet basic needs, including the purchase of foodstuffs, building materials, medicine and fuel. Our survey revealed high levels of food insecurity and poverty and determined important socio-demographic associations with smuggling. One of the most closely associated characteristics with support for smuggling behaviour was one's religious background, which we believe to be a function of Lebanon's consociational political system. The wellbeing of Wadi Khaled residents, we argue, demands that any effort to combat smuggling entail improving social support for the community and facilitating access to Lebanese markets and infrastructure.     

Trajectories Toward Peace: Mediator Sequencing Strategies in Intractable Communal Conflicts

The author identifies three distinct mediation sequencing strategies used in intractable communal conflicts: the gradualism model; a boulder-in-the-road approach; and the committee strategy. Using case examples of contemporary mediation efforts, he describes the three approaches and their advantages and disadvantages. A wider-angle approach to the differences in how mediators and conflicting parties achieve peace in these destructive conflicts is useful for both scholarly inquiry and practice.     

Islamism in the Diaspora: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

In recent years there has been increasing academic interestin Islamism in the Middle East, not least in Palestinian Islamismchampioned by groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, whichare waging a war of attrition against the Israeli occupationof the West Bank and Gaza. There has been less concern withIslamism among the Palestinian refugees dispersed in MiddleEastern countries such as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. The articleoutlines the sources of Islamism (‘political Islam’)among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The rise of Islamismis a complex mix of contingent factors that is fuelled by socialand political deprivation and shaped by divergent views on Palestiniannationalism (secular vs. Islamist), the Islamist revival inLebanon and ‘strategic localization’ that turnsrefugee camps into battlefields between Palestinian factions.The Islamist groups cater for narrowly defined segments of therefugee population and have been unable to attract wider support.Instead, they cater for minor, camp-based constituencies whichcompete with secular groups for internal control of the campsand, by implication, of the Palestinian nationalist cause itself.     

黎巴嫩局势演变及影响

黎巴嫩处于中东敏感地带,长期动荡,国内问题历来与地区主要矛盾相交织.叙利亚撤军后,黎局势发生较大变化,美国强化了介入,并将此作为最终更迭伊朗和叙利亚政权全盘计划的组成部分.伊叙不甘坐以待毙,对美采取一系列牵制措施,以维持政权生存.黎已经成为伊叙与美较量的舞台之一.     

委内瑞拉公民社会新发展:从社区自治会到公社

委内瑞拉总统查韦斯在执政期间积极推动建立参与式民主,并探索发展人民参与的有效途径。在这一过程中,社区自治会和公社相继建立,成为委内瑞拉参与式民主的主要载体。作为地方自治机构,社区自治会和公社体现1999年宪法倡导的政治参与,意在体现人民权力,表达人民意愿。这一机制为公民有效参与公共事务、进入公共领域开辟渠道,使他们对国家的发展方向享有较以往更大的发言权。社区自治会和公社对于委内瑞拉公民社会的成长发挥着重要的促进作用。它们的稳步发展将产生自下而上的推力,推动国家政治转型的实现,使委内瑞拉从国家集权控制转变为真正的公民治理。     

Development perspectives: Views from rural Lebanon

This paper explores development issues from the perspective of two villages in rural Lebanon. Educated male villagers see themselves as initiators of development and use the same language as NGO officials. Client-patron relationships and wasta (the act of accessing material favours, such as development projects, from the powerful) are means for these men to achieve their political ends. Women and the less powerful men, who are not part of the wasta network, tend to be disregarded in decision making, but nonetheless have strong views about the needs of the villages. The Islamic view emphasises the moral life.