Working Against the Mainstream - A Minor Field Study on Cross-Sectarian Civil Society Peacebuilding in Lebanon
(2023) STVM25 20231Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- When the civil war in Lebanon was ended by the signing of the Taif Agreement in 1989, the consociational democracy was reintroduced to mitigate inter-sectarian tension. Although there has been more than 30 years since the war ended, Lebanon is still a deeply divided society, and the current peace is characterized by reoccurring eruptions of violence and inter-sectarian tension. While the sectarian political elite ruling the country use and exacerbate this division to maintain their own power, a small segment of local civil society strives to create a better peace in Lebanon by trying to bridge sectarian divides among the youth, which goes directly against the sectarian mainstream. Through qualitative interviews with representatives of... (More)
- When the civil war in Lebanon was ended by the signing of the Taif Agreement in 1989, the consociational democracy was reintroduced to mitigate inter-sectarian tension. Although there has been more than 30 years since the war ended, Lebanon is still a deeply divided society, and the current peace is characterized by reoccurring eruptions of violence and inter-sectarian tension. While the sectarian political elite ruling the country use and exacerbate this division to maintain their own power, a small segment of local civil society strives to create a better peace in Lebanon by trying to bridge sectarian divides among the youth, which goes directly against the sectarian mainstream. Through qualitative interviews with representatives of local cross-sectarian peacebuilding organizations and their youth participants, the aim of the thesis is to examine the challenges and opportunities of this work from a multilevel perspective. The theoretical framework draws upon a combination of perspectives including historical institutionalism, ontological security, feminist theory, and critical peacebuilding. Findings suggest that the challenges local peacebuilding organizations face, related to the institutional level stem from the relationship between the state and civil society, which severely restricts the agency of local peacebuilding organizations. The societal condition of inter-sectarian fear is found to be a further challenge, as well as the way in which the sectarian political elite exploits this condition for their own gain. The major opportunity of the work of local peacebuilding organizations is shown to be the transformed relationships between the youths, as these can help break barriers of fear, lower tension and initiate small-scale cross-sectarian cooperation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9134108
- author
- Boris, Aina LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- STVM25 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- peacebuilding, civil society, sectarianism, Lebanon, youth
- language
- English
- id
- 9134108
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-15 11:35:25
- date last changed
- 2025-08-15 11:35:25
@misc{9134108,
abstract = {{When the civil war in Lebanon was ended by the signing of the Taif Agreement in 1989, the consociational democracy was reintroduced to mitigate inter-sectarian tension. Although there has been more than 30 years since the war ended, Lebanon is still a deeply divided society, and the current peace is characterized by reoccurring eruptions of violence and inter-sectarian tension. While the sectarian political elite ruling the country use and exacerbate this division to maintain their own power, a small segment of local civil society strives to create a better peace in Lebanon by trying to bridge sectarian divides among the youth, which goes directly against the sectarian mainstream. Through qualitative interviews with representatives of local cross-sectarian peacebuilding organizations and their youth participants, the aim of the thesis is to examine the challenges and opportunities of this work from a multilevel perspective. The theoretical framework draws upon a combination of perspectives including historical institutionalism, ontological security, feminist theory, and critical peacebuilding. Findings suggest that the challenges local peacebuilding organizations face, related to the institutional level stem from the relationship between the state and civil society, which severely restricts the agency of local peacebuilding organizations. The societal condition of inter-sectarian fear is found to be a further challenge, as well as the way in which the sectarian political elite exploits this condition for their own gain. The major opportunity of the work of local peacebuilding organizations is shown to be the transformed relationships between the youths, as these can help break barriers of fear, lower tension and initiate small-scale cross-sectarian cooperation.}},
author = {{Boris, Aina}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Working Against the Mainstream - A Minor Field Study on Cross-Sectarian Civil Society Peacebuilding in Lebanon}},
year = {{2023}},
}