Syria And Lebanon; The Decline of Arab Nationalism and the Triumph of the State
تاريخ النشر: 23/10/2007
الناشر: I.B.Tauris
نبذة الناشر:The complex relationship between Syria and Lebanon is the political fulcrum of the Middle East, and has dominated headlines since the withdrawal of French colonial forces from the Levent in 1943. One o fthe great paradoxes of this relationship is how two such very different political systems emerged in what ...many Syrian and Lebanese people see as one society. At the time of independence, it was assumed that only the divide-and-rule strategies of foreign power kept the Arab peoples artificially separated. In this major new book, youssef Chaitani examines how, despite the prevalence of Arab nationalism and the regression of imperial interference in the post-independence period, Syria and Lebanon became more divided, rather than more integrated. This process culminated in the breakdown of the Customs Union in 1950, ending three decades of close economic co-operation between the two countries.
Drawing on previously untapped sources from the archives of Western foreign offices and the local Arab press, Chaitani uncovers the strategies and motivations of both countries’ ruling elites during this period. He demonstrated that Lebanese views on the relationship with Syria were not just the product of the Christian population’s de-Arabisation agenda, but also a reflection of wider frustration at Syria’s tendency to manipulate the supply of commodities-particularly grain- for political leverage. Chaitani draws out the tensions between interdependence and dependency which have characterized Syrian-Lebanese relations to this day. Post-colonial Syria and Lebanese offers fresh insights not only into the complicated Syrian-Lebanese relationship, but also into Arab nationalism and why it was frustrated. إقرأ المزيد