Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1990 Political Rationality and Irrationality: The aC se of the Lebanese Forces. Leila El-tawil Sarieddine Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Sarieddine, Leila El-tawil, "Political Rationality and Irrationality: The asC e of the Lebanese Forces." (1990). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 5021. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/5021 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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POLITICAL RATIONALITY AND IRRATIONALITY: THE CASE OF THE LEBANESE FORCES A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy i n The Department of Political Science by Leila El-Tawil Sarieddine B.S., Lebanese University* 1980 M.A., East Tennessee State University, 1985 August, 1990 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all who have contributed to this dissertation. My appreciation and thanks to my major professor and mentor, Cecil V. Crabb Jr., who has assisted in setting my goals for the proposal and guided me through the final draft. It was his keen and deep appreciation of various cultures that helped me to prepare a proper background for my dissertation on the Lebanese political culture. I am very thankful to him for his advise, his counsel, and his support in overcoming the many obstacles I faced while bringing this dissertation to comp let ion. I am likewise thankful to all of the members of my dissertation committee, including Ramon Arango, James Garand, and Karl Roider Jr., who played an active and helpful role throughout the writing process. I am also most grateful to another committee member, Lawrence Falkowski, for his support and invaluable assistance in preparing the statistical aspect of this dissertation. Finally, my special thanks go to my husband Nazir for his patience and understanding, and to my friends Peter and Carol Dazzio for their valuable friendship and support, I would like to dedicate this work to my late and beloved parents, Victor and Olympia el-Tawil, without whose influence none of my ideals and goals could have been ach ieved. i i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER ONE: THE LEBANESE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT. 1 Lebanon: A Geographic Profile ........................ 9 The "Communities" of Lebanon .......................... 6 The Maronit.es......................................... 6 The Shi'ites ...................................... * . 8 The Sunnis ..... 10 The D r u z e .............................................. 10 The Economic S y s t e m .................................... 18 French Influence on Lebanon .......................... 13 Roots of the Political C o n f l i c t ...................... 19 The State of Greater L e b a n o n .......................... 19 Independent Lebanon .................................... 81 The 1958 Civil W a r ....................................... 85 The Beginning of the E n d ............................... 87 The Disintegration of Lebanon ........................ 30 Political Context ....................................... 31 The Civil War .................................... 90 The Emergence of the Lebanese Forces ......... 99 CHAPTER TWO: COALITION POLITICS AND THE LEBANESE POLITICAL SYSTEM ......................................... 50 The "Magic F o r m u l a " ................... 53 The Coalition of Contrasts ..... 57 Cabinet Coalitions: Their Strengths and Weaknesses 60 The Lebanese F o r c e s .................................... 63 The Kata'ib ................... 65 The National Liberal Party (NLP) ................. 66 The Tanzim (Organization) ........................ 66 The Guardians of the Cedars (Hurras al-Arz) . 67 Organization of the Lebanese Forces (LF) .... 67 Coalition Politics ....................................... 70 Size Principle Coalitions ............................. 73 Po1icy-Distance Theory .................................. 75 Rational Choice Theory .................................. 80 Assessing Coalition Theories .......................... 85 CHAPTER THREE: THE LEBANESE FORCES: AN INSTITUTION TOWARDS THE F U T U R E ....................................... 89 The Transformation of the Lebanese Forces into an Inst i tut io n ........................................... 98 The First Phase: 1975-1978 ..... 98 The Second Phase: 1978-1988 95 The Third Phase: 1988-1985......................... 108 The Fourth Phase: 1986-1988 .... 108 The Fifth Phase: 1989-1990......................... 115 Goals and Ideology of the Lebanese F o r c e s .............118 Summary ..... ..... 188 i i i CHAPTER FOUR: THE LEBANESE FORCES AND THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ................................................. 125 Tradition Of External Involvement In Lebanon .... 127 The Maronites’ French Connection ...................... 133 Maronite-U.S. Relations ............................... 143 Maronite-Israeli Relations ............................. 153 Syria and the Lebanese F o r c e s ........................... 161 Conclusion................... 168 CHAPTER FIVE: DATA COLLECTION AND INTERVIEW RESULTS: PARAMETERS OF THE S T U D Y ...................................174 Published D a t a ...............................................180 Interview D a t a ...............................................181 The Interviews...............................................185 An Analysis of the F i n d i n g s ..............................188 Conclusion................................................... 204 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS .................................. 207 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................ 224 APPENDIX I. ..... 230 APPENDIX I I ......................................................232 APPENDIX III......................................................237 VITA............................................................... 240 i v LIST OF TABLES Page Table One: Comparison of Wages between the Lebanese Forces the Public Sector ............................... 113 Table Two: Objectives of the Various Parties Before 1976 ........................................................ 109 Table Three: Criteria Used to Decide on the Faction with Whom to Coalesce .................................... 190 Table Four: Parties Which the Respondents Would Not Even Consider to Coalesce W i t h ................................ 191 Table Five: Causes for Coalition ........................ 192 Table Six: Personalities that Had Impact on the Coa lit i o n ................................................ 193 Table Seven: Concessions Made to Form Coalition . 199 Table Eight: Consider Other Coalition ................. 195 Table Nine: Gains From Joining the Coalition ..... 197 Table Ten: Losses From Coalition ........... 198 Table Eleven: Gained More by not Jo i n i n g .................. 199 Table Twelve: Who Gains M o r e ................................ 199 Table Thirteen: Expectations From Coalition .......... EDI Table Fourteen: Keep Party I D ............................. EOE Table Fifteen: Goals of the Lebanese Forces .......... EOE Table Sixteen: First Interest in Politics ............. E03 v ABSTRACT Rationalist theories of coalition formation have centered on one and only one principle: that individual conduct is totally