Suchergebnisse

The Shebaa farms claimed by the Lebanese government in 2000, following Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Southern Lebanon, are still at the core of an unresolved territorial dispute. The reports that French officers (Services Spéciaux di Marjayoun) produced during the first years of independance of Lebanon, clarify the incongruity existing between cartography and the daily practice: residents of the local villages were involved in legal cases, which arose for the use of pastures and water sources. In 1946, at the end of a long series of working sessions, a mixed Syrian-Lebanese border demarcation committee concluded an agreement defining the border between Syria and Lebanon in the area between the farm of Mughr Shebaa and the village of Shebaa. In territorial disputes that arise between new or recently formed states, legal titles are usually used to demonstrate proof of land ownership. in the absence of legal titles, the international law tends to preserve the pre-existing administrative territorial borders, even recurring to the use of juridical instruments such as the Uti possidetis iuris. Since the times of the Ottoman Empire, the Shebaa farms have always formed part of village of Shebaa administrative unit, and the Syrian-Lebanese agreement of 1946 is by all means a legal title which could assign the sovereignty of the disputed territory to the Lebanese government. Nevertheless, the United Nations arbitration has not reached any decision yet. The Syrian-Lebanese agreement, analysed in this article, together with some administrative documents collected by the geographer and historian Issam Khalife, would suffice to demonstrate Lebanon's sovereignty of the disputed area. But the regional geopolitics which involve the broader regional framework seem to make the Shebaa farms an exception to current practice.

Hizbullāh, the shiite muslim Party of God, was born in Lebanon in the early 1980s in response to the 1982 israeli invasion of Lebanon. The members of the Party of God were trained and organized by 1500 Iranian Revolution Guards, commonly known as the Pasdaran, to wage an guerrilla war against Israeli Forces. Hizbullāh's founding principles were its militant resistance to foreign occupation and the establishment of an Islamic system in Lebanon based upon the ideology derived by ayatollāh Khomeinī in the Iranian Revolution: the wilāyat al-faqīh or "rule of the jurist". From 1982 until the present, Hezbollāh's most visible activity has been its resistance against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, but in the 1990s (within the structure of the Ta'if Agreement) the Party of God has transformed itself from a radical and clandestine militia to a legitimate political party whit a resistance wing, playing an active part in the Lebanese political system. The Party of God has also a highly organized system of health, educational and social organizations that provide services to the impoverished people of Lebanon. The following pages will discuss a review of the Party of God, its political, social and ideological evolution.

Lebanon is often considered the unique country in the Arab world that witnessed some form of democracy. Confessional conflicts and the long civil war have revealed the instability of "Lebanese democracy" but, at the same time, its everlasting endurance that prevents authoritarianism. One of the most interesting interpretations of this phenomenon is Lijphart's model of consociational democracy focusing on the role of elites. The consociational model works in Lebanon since its independence (1943) to the outbreak of the civil war (1975) and with some important modifications, it has been re-established during the Lebanese Second Republic (from 1989 until today). The founding elements of those periods are the various national pacts (1943, 1898, 2008) that contributed to the development of a system based on the balance among confessions. The civil war had modified the basis of the 1943 National pact and those of the consociational model. However, in the post war period, Lebanon adopted a new formula that was, again, clearly inspired by consociativism. The new consociational model is less flexible both at the institutional (troika system) and the social levels and increased confessional divisions thus preventing the attainment of any compromise among communities, which could guarantee a political equilibrium. Paradoxically consociativism has been institutionalized and transformed in a sort of "communitarized constitutionalism", a system that perceives fragmentation both insuperable and fundamental. Adapted from the source document.

Hizballah, the "Party of God" started to take shape in Lebanon in 1982, as a response to the Israeli invasion. During the first stage of its existence, Hizballah -- deeply influenced by the example of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran -- aimed not only at turning back the Israelis but at the creation of an Islamic state in Lebanon (idea that lost much of its importance during the last years). In fact, at the time Hizballah was both a radical Islamist movement and a communal political organization, aiming at representing the Shi'a of Lebanon. This categorization overlooks the fact that, in the course of time, Hizballah has become something much more complex than a purely military and/or terrorist organization. Gradually it had extended its presence in the Lebanese civil society, creating a increasingly extensive network of welfare and educational services. Then, beginning with 1992, Hizballah, going through a crucial political development, started to take part in the elections, repeatedly winning several seats. Since then, Hizballah has progressively lost much of its identity as a community based Islamist party, and has increasingly turned into a modern nationalist mass party, although with its own peculiar features. The aim of this article is that of arriving at a more balanced assessment of Hizballah than the one that is presently dominant in the West. Accordingly it sketches out the historical development of the movement and its (incomplete) transformation from a military organization into a modern political party, actively involved in parliamentary politics. In doing this, the structure of the "Party of God" is analyzed and discussed, in order to explain some of Hizballah's main peculiarities. Finally, a conclusion dwells on two main problems left open by Hizballah's incomplete transformation, namely: (1) the continuing contradiction between Hizballah as terrorist-Islamist organization and Hizballah as a modern political party acting in a democratic setting; and (2) the problems arising from the mixture between religion and politics that continues to inform Hizballah's politics. Adapted from the source document.

This thesis covers a survey about the political life in my home country Lebanon where I have approached the different political parties and the political families that were involved in the social and political life dating back to the Lebanese independence, in addition to the tight relation between politics and religions, which constitutes the pillars of our political regime. Before getting core of my thesis, I highlighte and the scientific approach among which I tackled the history of the political parties and families My thesis is divided into 3 chapters: Chapter 1: In the first section, I defined the concept of a party and its creation in the western side of the globe and the Arabic East in addition to the ideological transfer from West to East. I tackled as well the adaptation of the East to this eastern understanding of political parties within its environment and society. The second section tackles the creation of the civil society in the West and its adoption in the eastern region especially in Lebanon, which allows the development of the social life by authorizing the creation of political parties and communities. I discussed as well the creation of the political parties in the West and its impact on the East and the role of freedom and democracy in allowing the creation of civil and non-political communities. Regarding Chapter 2, I tackled the history of the communities and the political parties in Lebanon stressing on those who had high impact on the national and regional political situation dating back to World War I and passing through the French mandate period and the Lebanese independence until the civil war. I have shown the situation of the Lebanese parties and their division nowadays into 2 blocs inside the community, each founding its principles based on the 18 religions recognized in Lebanon. In this Chapter, there is a clear picture about the tight relation between religion and politics, the latter based on religion instead of citizenship and civil secularism. In the last Chapter, I approached the concept of the Lebanese political families involved in politics and public affairs acquiring official positions in the government but on the other hand offering social, cultural and educational services to their communities. In my country, those services are called clientele services where the family offers its help to the citizens in exchange of their vote during the elections. In this regard, I have mentioned 3 standards political families, their foundation and most important personalities in addition to their roles in politics. I have also tackled the role of the Lebanese political families in the political life and their contribution in reaching our independence in addition to their perseverance in protection our liberty until nowadays despite the hard phases my country have gone through. In the second section from this chapter, I have landed into the history of the foundation of the Lebanese Parliament and its principles, the electoral voting operation of its members upon religious law instead of civil and the development of the electoral law that have differed from a round to another. At the end of the chapter, I have focused on the political families that have founded political parties in order to organize their political activities attracting supporters that follow the same ideas and political ideology. I have also focused on the historical and current role of these parties on the Lebanese scene and their impact on the Lebanese community who majorly belong to the families of those parties. In the conclusion of my thesis, I have recapitulated the 3 chapters with my personal opinion to constitute a Lebanese state based on secularism instead of religion despite the diversified religions inside the Lebanese society.