Post-colonial Syria and Lebanon: The Decline of Arab Nationalism and the Triumph of the State

by Youssef Chaitani, Patrick Seale (Introduction)

The complex relationship between Syria and Lebanon is the political fulcrum of the Middle East, and has dominated headlines since the withdrawal of French colonial forces from the Levant in 1943. One of the great paradoxes of this relationship is how two such very different political systems emerged in what many Syrian and Lebanese people see as one society. At the time of independence, it was assumed that only the divide-and-rule strategies of foreign powers kept the Arab peoples artificially separated. In this major new book, Youssef Chaitani examines how, despite the prevalence of Arab nationalism and the regression of imperial interference, Syria and Lebanon became more divided, rather than more integrated in the post-independence period. Drawing on untapped sources from the archives of Western foreign offices and the local press, Chaitani uncovers the strategies and motivations of both countries' elites during this period, and produces conclusions which have major implications for our understanding of Arab nationalism, as well as the complexities of the Syrian-Lebanese relationship.

Genres: Middle East, Lebanon

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the easiest of books to read, and being largely an economic history of the two countries, covering a short period of time, it makes for a rather dry read. However, it does explain how as soon as the French Mandate was over, both countries although independent, experienced economic hardships because of the French systems designed to make economic administration easier for the French and how frustrating they were for both parties.
It further explains the beginnings of suspicion at best, animosity at worst between the two countries, over the customs union and how contentious it was- with Beirut seemingly always having the upper hand over Damascus, and Damascus always threatening grain embargoes to even the odds.
The irony of the Arab Nationalist ideals working national interests does not go unnoticed, and Chaitani illustrates this well without demeaning either country. This skill is also on display in his depiction of the TAPLINE affair. I would have preferred more on the international scene, such as what hand did Britain have in the arrest and execution of Antun Saadeh? Were the Lebanese really smuggling Syrian grain to Israel? But these areas may be off-topic for such a narrow subject title. Post-Colonial Syria and Lebanon is very much for the specialist historian, and is certainly not a casual read.
Ultimately the real triumph of this book is not in the description of the political and economic failures of the 1940s, but how they affected generation after generation in the Levant and how the impact of those events can still be witnessed today in 2020 Civil War Syria and 'Revolutionary' Lebanon.

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro to modern Syria-Lebanon relations. Takes up the economic aspects of their intertwined modern histories that is often left out of discussions about the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, the civil war, etc..