Stability and the Lebanese State in the 20th Century: Building Political Legitimacy

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Explaining state-building failures in Lebanon during the 20th century, this book looks at the relationship between legitimacy and stability in the country since the creation of the state in 1920. The presence of legitimacy is considered necessary to any successful state-building endeavour. This book argues that the Lebanese state failed to achieve any meaningful form of legitimacy from its inception in 1920 to its near-collapse during the civil war. However, by analysing different eras of Lebanese history, throughout the different presidential terms, the author challenges the general understanding of stability and governance to show that the absence of legitimacy and society support actually contributed to the persistence of the Lebanese state. More than this, the evidence shows that Lebanese state was at its most stable when it was regarded as illegitimate. The wider, implicit question thus asked in the book revolves around a case where illegitimacy within the state is what ensures its stability and survival. Based on primary sources including national archives and collections, institutional documents, personal memoirs, newspapers and journals, this book provides a rich survey on the development and functioning of Lebanese political institutions.

Reviews

How should we understand Lebanon Now afflicted by widespread economic anomie and buffeted by the ambitions of competing regional powers, it is a country far removed from its once proud moniker as the Switzerland of the Middle East. In this ambitious study, Dr Tarek Abou Jaoude explores how the building of state-legitimacy was always a compromised project, its ambition never able to satiate competing sectorial interests and sectarian demands. This mirror on the past, will be an indispensable guide to those who wish for Lebanon a better future. * Clive Jones, University of Durham, UK *
Stability and the Lebanese State in the 20th Century offers a unique analysis of the various state-building projects that co-existed over time in the country, contributing to the (il)legitimacy and political (in)stability of Lebanon. This book powerfully underlines the failing of the narrow institutionalist approach to legitimacy and state-building in understanding Lebanon (and beyond). Hence, legitimacy needs to exist both on the institutional and societal level, in the absence of which no successful state-building project can emerge. * Nicolas Lemay-Hbert, Associate Professor, Australian National University, Australia *
An essential and perceptive contribution to the contemporary history of Lebanon. Packed with new insights and valuable analysis, it will be of importance to those concerned with how and why this deeply divided society collapsed into civil war. * Professor Michael Kerr, Department of War Studies, King's College London, UK *

Author Bio

Tarek Abou Jaoude is an independent scholar. He received his PhD from the University of Durham, UK.