Assi, AF and Worrall, JE orcid.org/0000-0001-5229-5152 (2015) Stable instability: the Syrian conflict and the postponement of the 2013 Lebanese parliamentary elections. Third World Quarterly, 36 (10). pp. 1944-1967. ISSN 0143-6597
Abstract
Given the morass of the Syrian civil war and Lebanon’s exposure to the consequences, this article seeks to explore how the intersecting dynamics of Lebanese domestic conflicts and the multiple implications of the bloodbath in Syria have influenced the behaviour of Lebanese political parties in the on-going struggle over the formulation of a new electoral law, leading to a broad consensus among the country’s parties to postpone the 2013 parliamentary elections. The article argues that, while the usual attempts to profit at the expense of other groups in society are still present and that external patrons still wield great influence, the decision to postpone the elections also demonstrates a degree of pragmatism and political development since, despite dire predictions to the contrary, Lebanon has not succumbed to the return of its own civil war. Instead a complex mixture of pragmatism, elision of interests and external influence, combined with local agency has led Lebanon into a situation of stable instability.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015, Taylor & Francis. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Third World Quarterly on 23 Sep 2015, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01436597.2015.1071661. |
Keywords: | Lebanon; elections; Arab Spring; participation and power; democratisation; political parties |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 29 Jul 2015 14:30 |
Last Modified: | 19 Apr 2021 13:52 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2015.1071661 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/01436597.2015.1071661 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:88404 |