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The Reconstruction of Downtown Beirut in Post-Civil War Lebanon

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The Reconstruction of Downtown Beirut in Post-Civil War Lebanon LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE Actually Existing Neoliberalism: The reconstruction of Downtown Beirut in post-civil war Lebanon Hadi Makarem A thesis submitted to the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics and Political Science for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations London, September 2014 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. Statement of use of third party for editorial help I can confirm that my thesis was proofread for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Grove Proofreading & Editorial Services. 2 Abstract This thesis assesses neoliberal urban developments in post-civil war Lebanon. It does so by focusing on the reconstruction of Downtown Beirut, which contributed towards: firstly, increasing a public debt that was burdening the country at the time; and secondly, reproducing sectarian divisions in Lebanese politics and society. To explain this outcome, this thesis analyses the policies of specific agents who were involved in, and in control of, the reconstruction process. The agents being referred to were led by the former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri until his death in 2005. When analysed, these policies are found to follow the neoliberal logic of the late prime minister, but also to have been designed and implemented in a way to create and extract as much rent as possible for the benefit of those with invested interests in the reconstruction process. In this regard, it is argued that rent-seeking activities and behaviours heavily influenced the decision-making processes in key institutions concerned with reconstruction matters. Rent-seeking is used to refer to a wide range of social activities. In the case of Lebanon, we find a clear overlap between rent-seeking and two other processes that are endemic to the country: corruption and clientelism. The overlap between rent-seeking and these two other processes is a significant demonstration of how the nation-state and local politics shape the development and implementation of neoliberal economic policies, so that ‘actually existing neoliberalism’ is highly uneven from one region to another, and even from one country to the next. Because agency is placed at the centre of the analysis, this thesis adopts an approach that is more sociological in nature. It also makes use of two sets of literatures: those of liberal peacebuilding and new urban governance. This allows concepts and explanations to be used from both, in turn, complementing the analysis when delineating the patterns of neoliberalism that are specific to post-civil war Lebanon. 3 Table of Contents Declaration ......................................................................................................................... 2 Abstract .............................................................................................................................. 3 List of Figures and Tables ................................................................................................ 8 List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................... 12 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 14 Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................ 17 I. Setting the scene: .............................................................................................. 17 II. The research question(s): .................................................................................. 19 III. The hypothesis of the thesis ............................................................................. 20 i. Explaining the hypothesis in detail .................................................................. 21 ii. The key propositions ........................................................................................ 26 IV. Analysing the reconstruction of Downtown Beirut as a ‘neoliberal urban development’ .................................................................................................... 28 i. Neoliberalism – a definition ............................................................................ 29 ii. Neoliberalism in new urban governance and liberal peacebuilding literatures ..................................................................................................... 30 V. The agents behind neoliberal urban developments .......................................... 34 i. Analysing the agents as transnational capitalists .............................................. 35 ii. Identifying the agents through a sociological approach ................................... 38 VI. The methodology of the thesis ......................................................................... 40 i. The influence of context on the methodology used .......................................... 41 ii. The veracity of information collected using this methodology ........................ 43 iii. Coupling these methods with already-existing literature ................................. 45 4 VII. The structure of the thesis ................................................................................ 47 PART I: Contextualising neoliberal urban developments .......................................... 49 Chapter Two: The regional context............................................................................... 50 I. The Arab elites – agents of neoliberal urban developments in the Arab world ......................................................................................................................... 51 i. The Arab elites over the past few decades ....................................................... 52 ii. Differentiating between the Arab elites ............................................................ 56 II. Neoliberal urban developments in the Arab world .......................................... 60 i. A ‘Gulf moment’? ........................................................................................... 62 ii. The rise of Gulf-based real estate conglomerates ............................................ 65 iii. The ‘Gulfication’ of the Arab urban environment ........................................... 70 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 78 Chapter Three: The domestic context ........................................................................... 80 I. The elites of post-civil war Lebanon ................................................................ 81 i. How did the elites govern in post-civil war Lebanon? ..................................... 82 ii. Who exactly was governing in post-civil war Lebanon? ................................. 85 iii. What did the elites do with the Lebanese state? ............................................... 91 II. Neoliberal urban developments in post-civil war Lebanon ............................. 97 i. Neoliberal urban developments in the reconstruction process ........................ 97 ii. Popular mobilisations against neoliberal urban developments ...................... 103 iii. The elites and neoliberal urban developments ............................................... 107 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 113 PART II: Neoliberal urban developments and their place in Beirut’s urban history ......................................................................................................................................... 117 Chapter Four: Episodes of transformation: from modern to neoliberal urbanism ......................................................................................................................................... 118 I. The modern and post-modern configurations of Beirut ................................. 119 i. The first steps towards modernisation ............................................................ 121 ii. The impact of modernisation on the city and its citizens ............................... 128 iii. The emergence of ‘post-modern’ perspectives ............................................... 133 II. The Keynesian attempts to address Beirut’s urban issues .............................. 141 5 i. Keynesianism and its effects on urbanism ..................................................... 142 ii. The failure of Keynesian policies and the rise of neoliberal forces ............... 148 iii. Examples of neoliberal urbanism during the civil war ................................... 156 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 165 Chapter Five: Towards neoliberal urban developments: the role of Rafiq Hariri ........................................................................................................................................
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