Weak States, Borders and Humanitarian Interventions

This book focuses on international border and humanitarian interventions in Lebanon, from the Syrian 'refugee crisis' to the current political, social and economic crisis. It sheds light on the centrality of the paradigm of state weakness in shaping those interventions; a paradigm relying on a set of simplistic assumptions that 'pathologise' the state by framing it as absent, afflicted by fragmentation and bad governance, while downplaying its political agency. It shows that those dominant narratives promoting an essentialised vision of Lebanon and of its capacity limitations are crucial to the legitimisation of international interventions. In addition, the author points to the prevalence of externalisation logics, discourses and frames: Lebanon has been constructed by the international community as a security problem, a 'dangerized' place prone to foreign interventions, embedded in a European agenda of externalisation of migratory controls.

Focuses on international border and humanitarian interventions in Lebanon Covers the Syrian refugee crisis to the current political, social and economic crisis Shows how Lebanon has been constructed by the international community as a security problem

Autorentext

Clothilde Salelles is a postdoctoral researcher in political science at the University of Antwerp. A former student from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon, she holds a PhD in political sociology from the Université Sorbonne Paris Nord.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. The construction by foreign actors of Lebanon as a weak, fragmented and 'dangerized' state.- Chapter 2. The centrality of the paradigm of state weakness in shaping humanitarian interventions, from the refugee regime to the crisis response.- Chapter 3. The participation of Gulf states in refugee governance.- Chapter 4. International border interventions: European externalisation and border management policies.- Chapter 5. Against the weakness paradigm: a state showing agency and strategic thinking.- Chapter 6. The instrumentalisation of the paradigm of migration management by the Lebanese authorities: selection and exclusion practices.- Chapter 7. A reconfiguration of the European agenda of externalisation