Religion, national identity, and confessional politics in Lebanon
Subtitle: the challenge of Islamism
By: Robert G. Rabil
Series: The Middle East in focus; Middle East in focus series
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 213
ISBN-13: 9780230116542
Subjects: Politics and government; Political culture; Islam and politics; Islamic fundamentalism; Islam and state; Lebanese National characteristics; Identity politics
Description: "Tracing the rise of Islamism in Lebanon and its attempt to Islamize society and state by the reverse integration of society and state into the project of Islamism, this book looks at Lebanon against a background of weak and contested national identity and capricious interaction between religious affiliation and confessional politics and attempts to illustrate in detailed analysis this "comprehensive" project of Islamism according to its ideological and practical evolutionary change. The author demonstrates that, despite ideological, political and confessional incongruities and concerns, Islamism, in both its Sunni and Shi'a variants, has maintained a unity of purpose in pursuing its project: Jihad against Israel and abolishment of political sectarianism"--

"The book traces the rise of Islamism in Lebanon and its attempt to Islamize society and state by the reverse integration of society and state into the project of Islamism. Against a background of weak and contested national identity and capricious interaction between religious affiliation and confessional politics, this book attempts to illustrate in detailed analysis this "comprehensive" project of Islamism according to its ideological and practical evolutionary change. The book demonstrates that, despite ideological, political and confessional incongruities and concerns, Islamism, in both its Sunni and Shi'a variants, has maintained a unity of purpose in pursuing its project: Jihad against Israel and abolishment of political sectarianism"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: Greater Lebanon and the National Pact: The Elusiveness of National Identity * The Confessional System Between Lebanonism and Pan-Arabism * Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyah and Fathi Yakan: The Pioneer of Sunni Islamic Activism in Lebanon * The Reassertion of Sectarianism and the Rise of Islamism * The Islamists and the Political System: Al-Infitah and Lebanonization * The Praxis of Islamism and Syrian Suzerainty * The Takeover of Beirut: The Struggle for the State * The Future of Islamism in Lebanon.