THE INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES

IMES CAPSTONE PAPER SERIES

NATIONAL SECURITY IN DIVIDED SOCIETIES: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY ON THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LEBANESE AND IRAQI ARMIES

SARAH LORD AND TONY GHAZAL MOUAWAD

MAY 2015

THE INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES THE ELLIOTT SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

© OF SARAH LORD AND TONY GHAZAL MOUAWAD, 2015

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..3

Why and ?...... 5

Methodology………………………………………………………………………………6

Literature Review………………………………………………………………………….7

Political System Backgrounder…………………………………………………………..11

Politicization and Ideology………………………………………………………………13

Ideology in the Historical Context………………………………………………..14

Ideology in the Reconstruction Process…………………………………………..19

Reorganization…………………………………………………………………………...26

The Quota Question………………………………………………………………33

Promotions and Appointments……………………………………………………34

Breaking Points…………………………………………………………………………..41

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….43

What’s Next?...... 44

Recommendations………………………………………………………………………..46

Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………50

2

Introduction

In 1990, the (LAF) began the arduous task of rebuilding itself after fifteen years of sectarian civil war and multiple army dissolutions. Twenty-five years later, the army is widely perceived to be the only national institution in the country.1 Iraq, likewise, began in 2003 to rebuild the (IA) after an invasion, disbandment, and a devastating internal sectarian conflict. Contrary to the LAF, which maintained its unity despite various internal sectarian and external threats, in June 2014 the IA disintegrated in the face of a small external actor with internal sectarian ties. Both countries exhibit strong internal subnational divisions and rebuilt their armies with extensive external interference after periods of intense internal conflict. Why did the LAF remain united and effective after the Syrian withdrawal from

Lebanon in 2005, while the IA fragmented in the aftermath of the US withdrawal when confronting one of its first major challenges?

The cases of Lebanon and Iraq show that strong politicization2 during the rebuilding process undermines an army’s sense of corporateness, coherence, and unity which adversely affects its effectiveness and social license to operate in multi-sectarian and multi-ethnic countries. This paper will examine the rebuilding process of national in multi-sectarian and multi-ethnic Iraq and Lebanon, where subnational identities are fused with national political identity after internal cross-communal conflict. This paper will use the cases of Lebanon after its civil war ended in 1990 and Iraq after the 2003 American invasion to explore the factors that either shield or enable political influence within newly-built armies. It will examine as well

1 Fabiola Azar and