Description

The Formation of Modern Lebanon (1985) examines the critical period around the 1920 establishment of Greater Lebanon and its impact on the political development of the country. It examines the ramifications of the annexation of the coastal region and the Beqa'a valley, with their mainly Muslim populations, to Mount Lebanon, with its Maronite Christian population. This act had far reaching consequences for the development of Lebanon, whose subsequent history has been dominated by political, social, cultural and economic conflicts between Christians and Muslims. The book surveys the emergence of the special Lebanese Christian entity and its transformation into a national movement, and analyses the factors behind the French decision to establish Greater Lebanon. This decision is set in the general context of French policy in the Levant and Franco-British rivalry in the Middle East. It also analyses the demographic and political structure of the new state and traces its political development during the first years of statehood. The book argues that the roots of all the subsequent tension between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon and between Lebanon and the Arab Muslim world can be traced back to the very creation of modern Lebanon.