The Evolutionaries
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THE EVOLUTIONARIES: TRANSFORMING THE POLITICAL SYSTEM AND CULTURE IN LEBANON By Anders C. Härdig Submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service of American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In International Relations Chair: __________________________________ Dr. Diane Singerman __________________________________ Dr. Kristin Diwan __________________________________ Dr. Marwan Kraidy _________________________________ Dean of the School of International Service __________________________________ Date 2011 American University Washington, D.C. 20016 © COPYRIGHT by Anders C. Härdig 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT The Evolutionaries poses the question: How can grassroots activists broaden the space for political participation in a factionalized and elite-centric, as opposed to citizen- centric, polity? This question is explored through a case study of a new ‘civic’ segment of civil society in Lebanon, which after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war managed to carve a space in which to operate and established itself as a factor in Lebanese politics. This ‘civic movement’ employs an incremental change approach in order to transform their patron-dominated ‘republic’ into a republic, which recognizes the rights and responsibilities associated with citizenship. To this end, civic activists link with political elites in time- and scope-limited campaigns. The temporary character of these coalitions reduces the risk of cooptation, and the limited scope reduces the number of stakeholders threatened by the campaign. However, while the Lebanese state demonstrates relatively low levels of constraints to civic activists, constraints emanating from society are at times severe. The historical development of the Lebanese state, especially the construction of a confessional political system, has reinforced a political culture centered on kinship and sectarian collective identities. Consequently, in times of high tension and political polarization, the civic movement struggles to construct movement frames that resonate among the broader populace. Opportunities and constraints are traditionally sought on the level of the state, while culture and collective identities are examined as strategic tools, or invoked to explain the outcome of a movement after it has formed. However, a long-term perspective that captures the low-intensity dynamics that precede and succeed high- intensity popular mobilizations suggests that the social environment should also be ii understood as permissive or restrictive to movement formation. For instance, a ‘social opportunity’ can arise when the hegemonic political culture becomes contested in broad layers of the populace, as was the case when broad popular discontent with the traditional leadership during the civil war provided Lebanon’s civic movement with a constituency. Thus, the findings of this study suggest that shifts in the way individuals understand and interpret their environment can provide opportunities for Lebanon’s ‘Evolutionaries’ to initiate a slow process of political and societal transformation. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writing of this dissertation was the culmination of a decade-long infatuation with Lebanon and her citizens. It was authored in at least three different nations, each environment offering unique inspiration, sometimes counter-intuitively. Two seven hour drives through a sub-zero and snow covered Sweden offered something of a critical breakthrough in the early stages of the writing process – although I had to keep playing Magida and Fairuz on my iPod to keep my spirit in Lebanon-mode. Conversely, various Lebanese coffee shops in Beirut proved themselves thoroughly unproductive locations for writing, since I invariably ended up people watching – a Lebanese preoccupation to which I had no trouble adapting. The Stockholm archipelago proved equally distracting for the writing process, while a Stockholm apartment was slightly more conducive to work. However, most of these pages were written in my office in the basement of the new School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC, and a special thank you must go to Louis Goodman and Joe Clapper at SIS who pushed to secure office space for the school's PhD candidates in the new building. Having access to private offices is a luxury most PhD candidates do not enjoy, and there is no doubt that without this space this dissertation would not only have taken much longer to complete, but the writing process would have been even more isolating than it was. This dissertation would also not have been written had it not been for the support over the years from the Swedish Fulbright Commission, the Marcus Wallenberg Foundation (Tekn. Dr. Marcus Wallenbergs stiftelse för internationellt industriellt företagande), and the Smith Richardson Foundation. iv I am grateful to my committee chair Diane Singerman, and committee members Kristin Diwan and Marwan Kraidy for their support and encouragement throughout the PhD process. I also want to thank Mona Yacoubian at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) for taking time to discuss my dissertation proposal and helping me with contacts in Lebanon as I was preparing my fieldwork. The people in Lebanon’s civil society to whom I owe a debt of gratitude are too numerous to all mention by name, but special mention must be made of Gilbert Doumit, whose friendship and willingness to arrange introductions proved crucial to the execution of my fieldwork. Carmen Geha, Sarah Mourad, Omar Abdel Samad, Samer Abdallah, Rida Azar, Rouba Zebian, Rana Yazigi, and Saad El Kurdi, all helped make my stays in Lebanon productive and enjoyable. I am also thankful for having met Lina Sahab and Dana Alaywan, who in true Lebanese tradition took pity on a blond ajnabi eating dinner alone, and taught me that sometimes beach breaks are necessary for recharging the brain. I am grateful to Fouad Debs for research assistance in Lebanon and a special thank you goes to his mother, Dina el- Khalil, and the Debs family who always welcomed me in their home as a family member. I am also grateful to the American University of Beirut for providing me with an institutional home away from home during my research trips – and for giving me housing when my Beirut apartment became difficult to live in during the 2006 war. I am grateful to my parents, Sven and Kerstin Härdig, who are the kind of people who not only tolerate my tendency to not stay put in Sweden, but see this as an opportunity for them to travel places they would not otherwise have gone. Thus, when their son told them in the late 1990s that he would apply to the American University of Beirut instead of finishing college and get a job, they were not only supportive, but seized v the opportunity to come visit Lebanon at a time when tensions were running high in the region. Similarly, when the above-mentioned son left government employment to pursue a PhD in Washington, DC, they immediately began planning their future visits, instead of lamenting the financial uncertainty that such a move would bring their son for several years to come. Finally, I want to thank Tazreena, whose friendship and immeasurable patience helped carry me through the PhD experience before, during, and after the dissertation. There have in the past been countless attempts to understand Lebanon’s political and social dynamics and, consequently, achieving some kind of “originality” when taking on this topic is a true challenge. But, to paraphrase the great Swedish poet and musician Jocke Berg, everything may have been done before, but it has never been done before by you. Therefore, I hope the reader will find something fresh in my approach to the topic of this dissertation, despite the multitude of studies on Lebanon’s politics and society. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS viii LIST OF ACRONYMS ix CHAPTER ONE Introduction: Social Movements and Political Participation 1 CHAPTER TWO Creating a “Precarious Republic” 51 CHAPTER THREE The Emergence of Lebanon’s Civic Organizations 102 CHAPTER FOUR Revolution and Evolution: Civic Mobilizations and Coalitions 161 CHAPTER FIVE Collective Identity and Movement Formation 211 CHAPTER SIX The Civic Movement Community and the Political Sphere 278 CHAPTER SEVEN Conclusion: The Evolutionaries 337 BIBLIOGRAPHY 350 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Table 1.1: Key organizations and their main focus 38 Figure 3.1: Founding period of NGOs in Lebanon – historical trend 106 Table 3.1: Group influence in Lebanon 137 Figure 4.1: Lebanon’s Muhafazat and Aqdya 194 Table 6.1: The National Network for the Right to Access to Information 291 Figure 6.1: Na-am’s campaign coalition and NGO network membership in 2009 307 viii LIST OF ACRONYMS ABA-ROLI American Bar Association – Rule of Law Initiative ADDL Association pour la Defense des Droits et des Libertes ALDHOM Association Libanaise des Droits de l'Homme AUB American University of Beirut CAMES Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies CCER Civil Campaign for Electoral Reform CCNI Civil Center for National Initiative CDL-ONG La Coordination des ONG en vue du Développement au Liban CESMO Centre d’études Stratégiques pour le Moyen-Orient CGTL Confédération Générale des Travailleurs au Liban CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CL Citizen Lebanon CLOE Coalition Libanaise pour l’Observation d’Elections CRTD-A Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action CSO Civil Society Organization DANIDA Danish