"A brief, brutal clash in Lebanon in 1958 followed the build-up of tensions between the country's most prominent communities - Maronites, Druze and Sunnis. This quickly escalated into a full-blown national crisis, which saw US Marines landing on Beirut shores." "This period of Lebanese history is often seen as the product of friction between pan-Arab nationalism and the growing threat to Western hegemony during the Cold War. But while orientation towards the West or the Arab world was a critical feature of these times, Kanaan argues that the 1958 flashpoint was the culmination of a century of unresolved conflict between these three groups." "Lebanon 1860-1960 is an insightful study of the various cultural interpretations that underlay Lebanon's vulnerable and volatile infrastructure, leading to what the US Department of Defense referred to as 'like war but not war' - a confrontation that was to have repercussions in Lebanon and throughout the region for decades to follow."-- book jacket.

This book studies the origins and evolution of power sharing in Lebanon. The author has established a relationship between mobilization, ethnurgy (ethnic identification), memory and trauma, and how they impact power sharing provisions. The book starts with the events in the 1820s, when communities began to politicize their identities, and which led to the first major outbreak of civil violence between the Druze and the Maronites. Consequently, these troubled four decades in Lebanon led to the introduction of various forms of power-sharing arrangements to establish peace. The political systems introduced in Lebanon are: the Kaim-Makamiya (dual sub-governorship), a quasi-federal arrangement; the Mutassarifiya, the prototype of a power-sharing system; the post-independence political system of Lebanon which the book refers to as semi-consociation, due to the concentration of executive powers in the Presidential office; and finally, the full consociation of the Taif Republic. In each of these phases, there was a peculiar interaction between the non-structural elements that had a direct impact on power sharing; this led at times to instability, and at other times it brought down the system, as in 1840–1860 and 1975. Power Sharing in Lebanon is the first academic work that emphasizes the influence of the non-structural elements that hinder power sharing. This volume is now a key resource for students and academics interested in Lebanese Politics and the Middle East.

Tells the story of the Jews of Lebanon in the twentieth century. This work challenges the prevailing view that Jews in the Middle East were second-class citizens, and were persecuted after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Aiming to contribute to the reader’s greater understanding of Lebanese government and politics, this book provides a comprehensive examination of the origin, development, and institutionalization of sectarian consociationalism in Lebanon. A recurrent proposition advanced in this book is that Lebanese sectarian consociationalism has been both a cure and a curse in the formulation of political settlements and institution building. On the one hand, and in contrast to many surrounding Arab regimes, consociational arrangements have provided the country with a relative democratic political life. A limited government with a strong confessional division of power and a built-in checks and balance mechanism prevented the emergence of dictatorship or monarchy. On the other hand, a chronic weak state has complicated efforts for nation building in favour of sectarian fragmentation, external interventions, and strong polarization that periodically brought the country to the verge of total collapse and civil war. While examining Lebanese sectarian politics of conflict and concession during different historic junctures many revelations are made that underlie the role of domestic and international forces shaping the country’s future. Presenting an implicit description of the power and functions of the various branches of government within the context of sectarian consociationalism, this book is an important introductory text for students of Lebanese Politics and Middle Eastern politics more broadly.

From the mid-1700s to the early 1900s, farming was the principal occupation in the area that would become Mt. Lebanon. When the federal government placed an excise tax on whiskey in 1794, area farmers protested in what became known as the Whiskey Rebellion. The 1901 arrival of the streetcar began transforming the area from a rural countryside to a modern suburban community. Within a few months of the streetcar's arrival, the first real estate subdivision, the Mt. Lebanon Plan, was laid out, and by 1905, no less than 11 subdivisions had been approved. When the Liberty Tunnels opened in 1924, Mt. Lebanon's population exploded, and the community became a premier example of the modern automobile suburb.

Annotation By providing a new framework for understanding Shi'ite national politics in Lebanon, Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr recasts the relationship between religion and nationalism in the Middle East