Baumann Hannes - Citizen Hariri: Lebanons neoliberal reconstruction

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR CITIZEN HARIRI

An insightful study of the neoliberal reconstruction period, seen through the political biography of its central character. Combining a political economy perspective with a sound grasp of multidimensional political realities, Baumann brilliantly shows how Hariri adapted to Lebanons intricacies.

Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies & International Relations, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Although colourful businessman-turned-politician Rafiq al-Hariri credited his success to the return of laissez-faire economics, Citizen Hariri reveals the surprisingly illiberal foundations of Lebanons urban megaprojects and financial engineering. A treasure trove of essential insights into class, capitalism, and business-state relations in the contemporary Middle East.

Daniel Neep, Assistant Professor, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University Qatar

Political biography at its best. Hannes Baumann successfully uses the trajectory of Rafiq Hariri as a prism through which to understand Lebanons political dynamics. The result is a convincing and multilayered analysis that helps us to grasp both Hariris career and his enduring and complex legacy.

Charles Tripp, Professor of Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Baumann provides a brilliant study of the neoliberal reconstruction in post-war Lebanon by an oligarchy of warlords, bankers and contractors, who subordinated the state to private interests and enriched themselves on rent extraction, increasing unemployment, poverty and social inequalities.

Fawwaz Traboulsi, author of A History of Modern Lebanon

A masterly account of the introduction of neoliberalism in Lebanon. Combining sociological and economic analysis, Citizen Hariri provides a fresh look at clientelism, governance, class formation, and the state in Lebanon. It will be a key work for years to come.

Sune Haugblle, Associate Professor at Roskilde University, and author of War and Memory in Lebanon

This insightful and clever book justifiably puts political economy at the center of the analysis, but also exposes the ways in which Hariris engagement in politics fueled an increasingly sectarian emphasis as he sought power in Lebanons power-sharing system. The careful exposition of large-scale state interference with property rights and currency markets is an important contribution.

Melani Cammett, Professor of Government, Harvard University, and author of Compassionate Communalism: Welfare and Sectarianism in Lebanon

Citizen Hariri not only provides us with a critical biography of one of the modern Middle Easts most fascinating political figures, it also throws new light on statebusiness relations and the politics of economic reforms in the wider region.

Steffen Hertog, Associate Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science, and co-editor of Business Politics in the Middle East

An insightful, sharp and timely analysis of Hariri. This is an invaluable contribution that sheds light on contemporary politics in Lebanon, and a must-read for all those interested in the post-civil war era.

Mayssoun Sukarieh, Lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies, Kings College London and co-author of Youth Rising? The Politics of Youth in the Global Economy

CITIZEN HARIRI

HANNES BAUMANN

Lebanons Neoliberal Reconstruction

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

Hannes Baumann.

Citizen Hariri: Lebanons Neoliberal Reconstruction.

ISBN: 9780190687168

In memory of Hildegard Baumann and Anna Uhly

I would like to thank various individuals and institutions which have helped me put together this book. Special thanks go to my Ph.D. supervisor Charles Tripp for his calm and always encouraging guidance. I would also like to thank my examiners Gilbert Achcar and Elizabeth Picard for their invaluable comments. I am indebted to my second supervisor Laleh Khalili as well as Jamil Mouawad, Daniel Neep, Reinoud Leenders and Yair Wallach, who read parts of my original Ph.D. thesis or the manuscript and provided invaluable comments. Special thanks go to Alasdair Craig and Jon de Peyer at Hurst for shepherding the manuscript to completion.

Sections of chapters 2 and 5 previously appeared as a chapter in a volume edited by Sabrina Mervin and Franck Mermier and published by Karthala in 2012, titled Leaders et partisans au Liban. I would like to thank Karthala for their permission to reproduce these sections here.

In Beirut, I benefited from the insights of (and countless lunches and dinners with) Karim Eid-Sabbagh and Doris Summer. Without them this book would have been a very different beast, and a much tamer one at that. My understanding of Lebanese politics was also enriched in the many conversations with various friends, academics, activists, journalists, pundits, and well-informed Lebanese who took the time to share their views with me. Thanks also go to the Centre for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES) at the American University in Beirut (AUB) who hosted me while I was there, especially to Aliya Saidi. Many thanks also go to the archivists in the AUB archives for the time and patience in digging up references to Rafiq Hariri. I would also like to thank my interviewees for taking the time to speak to me.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to various institutions which provided financial support for the original research and the completion of the book manuscript. The Leverhulme Trust supported my field research in Lebanon with a Study Abroad Studentship in 20072008. The Council for British Research on the Levant (CBRL) kindly supported my travels with a travel grant. I would like to thank Sarah Boucher and Media Eghbal for their patience and understanding when they were my line managers at Euromonitor International in 20052007. They were very understanding of my time commitments towards the Ph.D. My research at Euromonitor was completely separate from my academic work and I derived no commercial benefit from my Ph.D. research. I completed part of the manuscript as Jamal Daniel Levant Post-doctoral Fellow in 20132014, based at the Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) at Georgetown University. My thanks go to Mr Jamal Daniel personally for endowing the fellowship and to CCAS for hosting me. I am especially grateful to Osama Abi-Mershed for originally inviting me to Georgetown as a visiting assistant professor. Another part of the manuscript was written as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies (IMES) at Kings College London. I would like to thank Rory Miller and Michael Kerr for supporting my application and hosting me at IMES. I would not have been able to complete this Ph.D. without the generous financial and emotional support of my parents, Christine and Gnter Baumann. I relied on an inheritance from my late grandmother Anna Uhly to finance part of the research and writing up. I dedicate this book to her and my other late grandmother Hildegard Baumann who called me every week to ask how my book was going.