The Position of a Weak State in an Unstable Region: The Case of Lebanon

نبذة عن كتاب The Position of a Weak State in an Unstable Region: The Case of Lebanon

In this book, Weak States in the International System, Michael Handel notes that the cycles of security and insecurity and of influence and impotence in weak states like Lebanon are largely determined by the structure of the international system and the position of the state in that system. Lebanon has been a victim not only of internal divisiveness, but also of its geographical location and regional environment. Its location between Syria and Israel, two countries that are militarily more powerful than Lebanon and at war with each other in a region steeped in historic and violent animosities, has only exacerbated Lebanon’s own internal dilemmas. Moreover, tai’ fiyya, the confessional power-sharing formula of the Lebanese political system, reflecting a tenuous balance between its Christian and Muslim communities, was neither equiped to resolve severe conflict nor able to avert outside encroachment.