My dissertation examines group dynamics of minority populations during times of violent conflict. By applying a comparative analysis to case studies drawn from the conflicts in Lebanon and Syria, I shed light on how and why minority groups decide to join a conflict, stay on the sidelines, go it alone, or flee. The populations I study are the Druze and Armenians of Lebanon and the Druze and Kurds of Syria. Through in-depth interviews, focus groups and archival data, I reconstruct the wartime histories of these minority communities and show the effects of pre-war communal institutions and wartime narratives on group behavior. I find that that these pre-war communal institutions help these groups act collectively in times of war, structuring the options available to them in navigating the conflict. I also find that wartime narratives of what the conflict is about and how minority communities fit into, or don’t, the primary cleavages of the war influence how these communities perceive threats and thus the strategies they employ to deal with such threats.

Creator

• Lee, Sean

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-x51p-4556

Subject

• Middle Eastern studies
• Political science

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• etdadmin_upload_686155
• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:14830

Keyword

• institutions
• Syria
• conflict
• Lebanon

Date created

• 2019-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright