Inventing Lebanon: Nationalism and the State Under the Mandate

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Bloomsbury Academic, 2003 - History - 274 pages
Inventing Lebanon examines the history behind an idea: a new polity of 'Greater Lebanon'. It shows how, under the powerful influence of the French Mandate, various groups of the local elite attempted to create what amounted to a new Lebanese nationalism, carving the state into Maronite Christian, Sunni and Shiite power bases. The results only accentuated the divisions already inherent in this multi-ethnic and multi-faith society, and were to pave the way for the instability and wars that have plagued the country ever since.

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About the author (2003)

Kais Firro is Professor of Middle Eastern History at the University of Haifa.

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