Lebanon: a Bibliography: Polity

This book is a study of one of the most ravaged countries of this generation. According to the author, the civil war resulted ultimately from a conglomeration of interdependent factors.

As the recent war in Lebanon demonstrated, an understanding of the Lebanese Shi‘ite militant group Hizbullah remains an important component of any attempt to solve the problems of the Middle East. The Shifts in Hizbullah’s Ideology provides an in-depth analysis of the group’s motivations, tracking the changes it has undergone since Hizbullah’s founding by Lebanese Shi‘ite clergy in 1978. Joseph Alagha demonstrates that Hizbullah, driven at its founding chiefly by religious concerns, in the latter half of the 1980s became a full-fledged social movement, with a structure and ideology aimed at social change. Further changes in the 1990s led to Hizbullah’s becoming a mainstream political party—but without surrendering its militarism or willingness to use violence to advance its ends.             In tracking these changes, The Shifts in Hizbullah’s Ideology covers such disparate topics as Hizbullah’s views of jihad, suicide and martyrdom, integration, pan-Islamism, anti-Zionism, and the relationship with Israel and the United States. It will be necessary reading for both scholars and policymakers.

A fascinating and often terrifying firsthand account of the 1982 war in Lebanon.

Why did Syrian political life continue to be dominated by a particular urban elite even after the dramatic changes following the end of four hundred years of Ottoman rule and the imposition of French control?

The author traces the development of Islamic political language from the time of the Prophet to the present. His analysis of documents written in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish illuminates differences between Muslim political thinking and Western political theory, and clarifies the perception, discussion, and practices of politics in the Islamic world.

In July 2006, with the commencement of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the longstanding secretary general of the "Party of God," burst into the spotlight of the Western media — cast, almost inevitably, as an even more dangerous incarnation of Osama bin Laden. Yet well before the start of the war, Nasrallah had acquired an almost unrivalled credibility in the Arab world among admirers and detractors alike, a profile that soared in May 2000 when he became the first leader to push Israel out of Arab land. Voice of Hezbollah brings to an English-speaking readership for the first time Nasrallah's speeches and interviews: the intricate, deeply populist arguments and promises that he has made from the mid-1980s to the present day. Newly translated from the Arabic, and with an introduction by one of the foremost writers on Lebanon, Voice of Hezbollah is critical to the understanding of the man and the movement.

The book provides an interesting new interpretation of Lebanon's civil wars by looking at the historical and political development of the Lebanese Christian community.

The author addresses the ten years of post-war physical & political reconstruction in the country, & adds a new chapter that deals with the regional scene & that shows the price Lebanon has paid for its international survival.

"Presents a comprehensive picture of the impact of the revolution on Iran's relations with its Middle Eastern neighbors -- particularly, though not exclusively, in the Gulf... An original study, of value both to Iranian specialists and those concerned with wider themes in Middle Eastern politics."-- International Affairs

As southern Lebanon becomes a battleground for Islamist warriors, 'Everyday Jihad' plunges us into the sprawling, heavily populated Palestinian refugee camp at Ain al-Helweh, which in the early 1990s became a site for militant Sunni Islamists.

Hizbuâ__llah is the largest and most prominent political party in Lebanon, and one of the most renowned Islamist movements in the world. In this book, Amal Saad-Ghorayeb examines the organisationâ__s understanding of jihad and how this, together with its belief in martyrdom, brought about the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Lebanon in May 2000.Saad-Ghorayeb explores the nature of the partyâ__s struggle against the West by studying its views on the use of violence against Westerners. Crucially, she also addresses the question of whether Hizbuâ__llah depicts this struggle in purely political or civilisational terms. The existential nature of the movementâ__s conflict with Israel is analysed and the Islamic roots of its anti-Judaism is unearthed.The author explores the mechanics and rationale behind the partyâ__s integration into the Lebanese political system, and sheds light on how it has reconciled its national idenitity with its solidarity with the Muslim umma.

Pure. Minimal. Simple. These are the words commonly used to describe the work of contemporary Japanese architects. FOBA, an internationally celebrated architectural practice based in Kyoto, looks beyond the aesthetics of minimalism, instead finding inspiration in the relationships between structure and site. 'FOBA: Buildings', the first monograph on the decade-old firm, features ten projects of surprising range: undulating lines, overlapping cubes, interpenetrating forms, and unexpected pairings demonstrate a varied set of approaches to projects. The work is at times boldly expressionistic, and at others refreshingly austere.The book also chronicles the FOB Homes systema FOBA subsidiary company established in 1999a uniquely creative response to the generic mass-produced pre-fabricated housing available in Japan. With five basic prototypes that can be easily adapted to any site or client, FOB Homes redefines the concept of standardized housing. Their simple, neutral white boxes counter the visual chaos of contemporary Japan and offer the elegance and experience of "architecture" to the general publica union of modernist aesthetics with the modernist ideology of democratic, affordable design.Together, FOBA and FOB Homes offers a look into the architecture of tomorrow. 'FOBA: Buildings' will be an inspirational sourcebook of ideas for those interested in innovative architecture with humane ideals.

For a generation, Muslim extremists have targeted Americans in an escalation of terror that culminated in the September 11 attacks. Our shared confusion -- Who are the attackers? Why are we targets? -- is cleared away in a book as dramatic as it is authoritative. Updated with new chapters on Afghanistan and the the broader Islamic movement, Sacred Rage combines Robin Wright's extraordinary reportage on the Islamic world with an historian's grasp of context to explain the roots, the motives, and the goals of the Islamic resurgence. Wright talked to terrorists, militant religious leaders, and fighters from Beirut to Islamabad and Kabul. Their voices of rage reverberate here -- right up to the attacks in New York and Washington. Across continents extends a challenge we fail to understand at our peril. Sacred Rage now casts light on the war being fought in the shadows.

Lebanon's unique political system and its laissez-faire political economy took shape during the period between the two great wars. Based on hitherto unstudied material, this work examines the inter- and intra-sectarian relations in Lebanon against the backdrop of the conflicting pressures from Damascus and Paris, the stands of the Christians and Muslims towards the Lebanese state, the ideological and political trends that emerged within each community and the rise of the political and economic elites in Beirut. It also analyzes Lebanese politics in the wider context of the Franco-Syrian confrontation, France's Middle East policy, the roots of Syria's hostility towards the Lebanese state and the attempts of its leaders to link it politically to Syria.

Based on unprecedented access to PLO archives and personnel, this groundbreaking new study represents the definitive history of the Palestinian national movement. Spanning the 45 years from the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 to the PLO-Israel accord of 1993, it sheds radical new light on the history of the Middle East in the last half of the twentieth century. -;This masterly new work spans an entire epoch in the history of the contemporary Palestinian national movement, from the establishment of Israel in mandate Palestine in 1948, to the PLO-Israel accord of 1993. Contrary to the conventional view that national liberation movements proceed with state-building only after attaining independence, the case of the PLO shows that state-building may shape political institutionalization throughout the previous struggle, even in the absence of an. autonomous territorial, economic, and social base. That is the central argument of this insightful study, which traces the political, ideological, and organizational evolution of the PLO and its constituent guerrilla groups. Taking the much-vaunted 'armed struggle' as its connecting theme, it. shows how conflict was used to mobilize the mass constituency, assert particular discourses of revolution and nationalism, construct statist institutions, and establish the legitimacy of a new political class and bureaucratic elite. The book draws extensively on PLO archives, official publications and internal documents of the various guerilla groups, and over 400 interviews conducted by the author with the PLO rank-and-file. Its span, primary sources, and conceptual framework make this. the definitive work on the subject. -

This is the story of the Palestinians living in refugee camps in Lebanon, one of the most vulnerable communities in a country torn apart by armed factions. Drawing on oral history, it presents a compelling portrait of their experience of attack and aggression, air raids, massacres and summary executions, how they organized to defend themselves and how they related to one another during these successive crises. Rosemary Sayigh explains the origins and history of the refugee camps, the rise of the Amal militia and the Palestinians' relationship with Syria and with the various Lebanese groups. She makes the complex maze of Lebanese politics intelligible and brings to life a communal experience essential for understanding Palestinian attitudes towards other developments in the region.

Prepared by Deptartment of Political Studies and Public Administration at the American University of Beirut (1926).

The Lebanese constitution. (2007). in Publitec Publications (Ed.), Who's Who in Lebanon 2007-2008, (pp. 431-446). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Saur.

Constitution of May 23, 1926. Amendments proposed by Govt. and Commission, finally accepted Oct. 17, 1927.

In this book, Zeina Maasri tells the tumultuous story of the struggle for Lebanon through the poster wars which raged on its streets from 1975 to 1990. Posters display a dramatic clash of cultures, ideologies and meanings.Maasri shows how the iconography of the posters changed throughout the war.

An introduction to the history, politics and contemporary life of the Middle East. This study focuses on the major countries of the Middle East, placing emphasis on their political institutions, and reports the most recent developments in a volatile region.

The book takes readers on a journey through the societies and peoples of a complex and volatile region. This study explores the historical origins of Arab nationalism, the distinctive rhetorical style of Arabic speakers and its effect on politics, traditional attitudes toward child-reading practices, the status of women, the beauty of Arabic literature, and much more

The book documents the political and intellectual response to the defeat of 1967 and surveys the choices facing the Arab world as exemplified by the case of Egypt. It seeks to explain the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism and locates its roots in the failures of the dominant political order, and the stalemate of secular political ideas.