Foreign Interference and Religious Animosity in Lebanon
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10075945 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maroun Kisirwoni (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1980 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 685-700 |
| Publication date | 1980-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/002200948001500405 |
| OpenAlex | W2034023310 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
One persistent factor in Lebanon's turbulent political history has been the self-interested manipulation of the country's factional and sectarian rivalries by outside forces, from the Middle Eastern region and the world at large. Since Ottoman times, hardly any major conflict among the Lebanese has been free from external intervention. In a number of cases, regional and foreign powers may have actually initiated Lebanese conflicts. In nearly all cases, Lebanese discord has been used by external powers, in one way or another, to serve diverse aims which have little to do with the Lebanese themselves. Factors within the Lebanese society have always been there not only to produce conflict, but also to encourage and even invite outside intervention in Lebanese affairs. Most important is the historical division of the Lebanese along religious and sectarian lines and, consequently, the lack of solidarity among them as a people or nation. This peculiarity of Lebanon as a segmented society has made the country a fertile ground for internal discord, and an attractive target for external political investment in local situations of discord sometimes to achieve direct or indirect domination over the strategic Lebanese territory; sometimes for the settlement of scores among regional forces, or world powers, or a combination of both. The failure of the Lebanese to overcome their sectarian conflicts, and their failure to build up a solidarity against outside intervention, have frequently transformed Lebanon into a battlefield where Lebanese factions, often unknowingly, have fought the undeclared wars of other nations by proxy. The three civil wars which Lebanon has experienced during the
Development economics · Intervention (counseling · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Settlement (finance · Sociology · Solidarity · Sovereignty · Territorial integrity · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts · Middle East Politics and Society
| Citations per year | 0.24 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Highly cited | No |