Abstract:
This thesis examines the overlapping domestic and external battles involved in the
making of foreign policy in Lebanon. It contends that domestic actors bandwagon
with external regional or international allies to contest the power of their domestic
opponents and their external allies. Consequently, neither Realism, Constructivism,
nor Pluralism offer viable explanations of Lebanon’s foreign policy. The thesis
examines this overlapping domestic and external contest in postwar Lebanon, paying
particular attention to the domestic and geopolitical contests unleashed by Syria’s
withdrawal from Lebanon in April 2005. These overlapping battles manifested
themselves clearly during the July 2006 War between Israel and Hizbullah. A
comparative analysis of the provisos of the Seven-Point Plan and the articles of the
United Nations Security Resolution 1701 demonstrates the domestic and external
battles over Lebanese foreign policy and, concomitantly, over the control of post-
Syria Lebanon.
