Foreign policy battles in post-Syria Lebanon. (2013)

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.