A history of stability and change in Lebanon: foreign interventions and international relations

Abstract

Lebanon is a country whose domestic politics have, even more than others in the region, been at the mercy of changes on the international stage. Having been under Ottoman and French rule in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the post-World War II era has seen Lebanon subjected to Israeli, Syrian and American interventions which have all threatened the county's stability as a state. Joseph Bayeh argues that it is this international dimension which holds the key to an in-depth understanding of the country. In support of this argument, Bayeh examines Lebanese history from its early days under the Ottomans to the present day in order to show how international shifts and conflicts have had their impact on Lebanon. With changes such as the fall of the Ottoman empire, the rise of US power after World War II, the end of the Cold War and the new focus on the region in the aftermath of 9/11, Lebanon has at various junctures been bolstered or undermined. Bayeh tracks all of this, offering insights into the workings of Lebanon's domestic politics which will appeal to researchers of the international relations of the Middle East and Lebanon's political history.