Compassionate Communalism

Cammett Melani

Description

In Lebanon, religious parties such as Hezbollah play a critical role in providing health care, food, poverty relief, and other social welfare services alongside or in the absence of government efforts. Some parties distribute goods and services broadly, even to members of other parties or other faiths, while others allocate services more narrowly to their own base. In Compassionate Communalism, Melani Cammett analyzes the political logics of sectarianism through the lens of social welfare. On the basis of years of research into the varying welfare distribution strategies of Christian, Shia Muslim, and Sunni Muslim political parties in Lebanon, Cammett shows how and why sectarian groups deploy welfare benefits for such varied goals as attracting marginal voters, solidifying intraconfessional support, mobilizing mass support, and supporting militia fighters. Cammett then extends her arguments with novel evidence from the Sadrist movement in post-Saddam Iraq and the Bharatiya Janata Party in contemporary India, other places where religious and ethnic organizations provide welfare as part of their efforts to build political support. Nonstate welfare performs a critical function in the absence of capable state institutions, Cammett finds, but it comes at a price: creating or deepening social divisions, sustaining rival visions of the polity, or introducing new levels of social inequality. Compassionate Communalism is informed by Cammett's use of many methods of data collection and analysis, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis of the location of hospitals and of religious communities; a large national survey of Lebanese citizens regarding access to social welfare; standardized open-ended interviews with representatives from political parties, religious charities, NGOs, and government ministries, as well as local academics and journalists; large-scale proxy interviewing of welfare beneficiaries conducted by trained Lebanese graduate students matched with coreligionist respondents; archival research; and field visits to schools, hospitals, clinics, and other social assistance programs as well as political party offices throughout the country.

Sujets

• Charities
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Charitable organization
• History of the Middle East

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 17 avril 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801470332
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Compassionate Communalism

Compassionate Communalism W ELFA R E A ND SECTA R I A N ISM I N LEBA NON

MelaniCammett

CornellUniversityPress ithaca and london

Cornell University Press gratefully acknowledges receipt of a grant from the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University which aided in the publication of this book.

Copyright©2014byCornellUniversity

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,orparts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

Firstpublished2014byCornellUniversityPress Firstprinting,CornellPaperbacks,2014

PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica

LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData

Cammett, Melani Claire, 1969– author.  Compassionate communalism : welfare and sectarianism in Lebanon / MelaniCammett.  pages cm  Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780801452321 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 9780801478932 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Charities—Lebanon. 2. Human services—Lebanon. 3. Communalism— Lebanon. I. Title.

HV378.C36 2014 361.7095692—dc23

2013040675

CornellUniversityPressstrivestouseenvironmentallyresponsiblesuppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Jacket photograph: A mobile clinic run by the Hezbollah (Party of God) offers free vaccination.Tebnine, Lebanon, 2004. Photo © Abbas/Magnum Photos.

For the people who shared their stories— may their future be peaceful and secure.

ListofFigures,Maps,andTablesix Acknowledgmentsxiii

Contents

Introduction1 1. Welfare and Sectarianism in Plural Societies7 2. Political Sectarianism and the Residual Welfare Regime in Lebanon38 3. Political Mobilization Strategies and InGroup Competition among Sectarian Parties58 4. The Political Geography of Welfare and Sectarianism85 5. Political Loyalty and Access to Welfare115 6. Sectarian Parties and Distributional Politics138 7. Welfare and Identity Politics beyond Lebanon191 Conclusion:TheConsequencesofWelfareProvisionby IdentityBased Organizations217

Appendixes: A. List of Elite Interview Respondents and Provider Questionnaire235 B. List of Nonelite Interview Respondents and Questionnaire247 C. National Survey Questions260

Notes267 References291 Index309

Figures, Maps, and Tables

Figures 1.1 Patterns of community and individuallevel distribution of welfare goods15 1.2 Partisan commitments of risk and time for different forms of political participation16 2.1 Lebanese schools by religious affiliation, 1920 and 197842 2.2 Students enrolled in public and private primary and secondary schools, selected years46 2.3 Primary and secondary schools in Lebanon, 1974–200651 2.4 Hospitals by affiliation (2008 estimates)52 2.5 Clinics and dispensaries by affiliation (2008 estimates)53 4.1 A woman sells Hezbollah and Lebanese national flags, as well as posters of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader, in a southern suburb of Beirut, August 23, 200689 4.2 Amal Movement poster in southern suburbs of Beirut in 200990 4.3 Poster of Saad Hariri in Beirut during the 2009 elections with photos below of Rafiq Hariri and two Future Movement supporters killed during the clashes and their aftermath in May 200891 4.4 Lebanese Forces poster of Samir Geagea in East Beirut in 200592 4.5 Taxis contracted by the Armenian Tashnaq Party waiting to shuttle voters to polls across Lebanon during the June 2009 national elections98 4.6 Demographic spread of major religious communities in Lebanon100 4.7 Propensity to target mixed or outgroup communities (measured by fractionalization) by institutional type103 4.8 Propensity to target ingroup communities (measured by percentage of coreligionists) by institutional type104