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Transforming Religious Communities Into Ethies: The Process Of The Lebanese Nation Building 1920-1958

TRANSFORMING RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES INTO ETHNIES:
THE PROCESS OF LEBANESE NATION-BUILDING
1920-1958

G&uuml / rcan, AySe Ezgi
MSc., Graduate Program of Middle East Studies
Supervisor: Dr. Erdogan Yildirim

August 2007, 100 pages

This thesis analyzes the process of nation-building in Lebanon in an historical context, covering the period staring from the declaration of the French Mandate in 1920 until the first civil war of 1958. The thesis defines nation-building as a process of transformation of the pre-modern form of religious identity into the modern ethnic and/or ethno-national identity, which develops along with state-making. In contrast to the claims in the literature that label all non-Western nation-building and state-making as deficient processes emerged as a result of the direct effects of Western colonialism, this study aims to establish an alternative approach in understanding the process of Lebanese nation-building. In this context the thesis evaluates the validity of the premises of the modern nationalism approaches in the literature on questions such as how far colonialism can be labeled as the primary source of Third World nationalism(s), and to what extent the nation-building processes were successful. The thesis claims that the Lebanese case presents a complex case, since nation-building was emerged not only emerged as a result of Western colonialism and power struggles but also did materialize because of the power struggles between and within domestic (Lebanon), regional (Arab states) and international (Europe and Ottoman Empire) actors.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12608639/index.pdf
Date01 August 2007
CreatorsGurcan, Ayse Ezgi
ContributorsYildirim, Erdogan
PublisherMETU
Source SetsMiddle East Technical Univ.
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeM.S. Thesis
Formattext/pdf
RightsTo liberate the content for public access

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