Book by Jonathan Hassine: "Soldiers and the State in Lebanon at war".
Jonathan Hassine, Soldiers and the State in Lebanon at warPresses Universitaires de France, April 2025, 496p.
Back cover
Contrary to popular belief, the Lebanese army and military were not powerless spectators of the war that tore Lebanon apart from 1975 to 1990. Using written sources in Arabic, French and English (memoirs, press, diplomatic archives) and an extensive survey of veterans, Jonathan Hassine traces the forgotten history of this institution and its personnel. By examining the day-to-day lives of soldiers, he sheds light on the survival of fighting units and the central role played by soldiers in confrontations and in the formation of militias. The trajectories of these men and their cohesion make it possible to go beyond the dominant narrative of the omnipresence of communal cleavages and to reinscribe the Lebanese civil war in the context of the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli conflict and decolonisation.
This book offers a reflection on the formation of the Lebanese state, coexistence between Christians and Muslims, the local and international forces behind the violence and the difficult post-war situation in a divided society, fifty years after the start of the conflict and at a time when the painful memory of that era is being revived by the crises affecting the country.
Contents
Transliteration of Arabic
Introduction
Part One: The "Great Resilient"?
Chapter 1. The Lebanese military crisis
Chapter 2. Rebuilding the army in the midst of civil war
Chapter 3. The reorganisation of the army
Part Two: Ordinary military life
Chapter 4. The fluid trajectories of military personnel
Chapter 5. The reconfiguration of authority
Chapter 6. Survival of fighting units
Part three: The unknown soldier
Chapter 7. Participation in the economy of violence
Chapter 8. Combatants and intimate conflicts
Chapter 9. The end of the war: forgetting and remembering
Conclusion
Index
Sources
Bibliography
