Description
Book SynopsisBeyond the Lines explores the social underpinnings of rebel adaptation and resilience. How do rebel groups cope with crises such as repression, displacement, and fragmentation? What explains changes in militant organizations'' structures and behaviors over time?
Drawing on nearly two years of ethnographic research, Sarah E. Parkinson traces shifts in Palestinian militant groups'' internal structures and practices during the civil war of 1975 to 1990 and foreign occupations of Lebanon. She shows that most militants approach asymmetrical warfare as a series of challenges centered around information and logistics, characterized by problems such as supplying constantly mobile forces, identifying collaborators, disrupting rival belligerents'' operations, and providing essential services like healthcare. Effective negotiation of these challenges contributes to militant organizations'' resilience and survival. In this context, the foundation of rebel resilience
Table of Contents
Introduction: Backstage Labor and Organizational Adaptation
1. Memories and Mythologies of Militancy: An Ethnographic Approach to Studying Militant Organizations
2. Building a Social Infrastructure: The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Guerrilla Factions in Lebanon
3. Social Networks and Wartime Violence: Comparing Repertoires during the 1982 Israeli Invasion
4. Beyond the Lines: Gendered Mobilization and Organizational Resilience in Militant Groups
5. Crossing Collaborators: Emotion, Informing, and Civilian Mobilization in Occuppied South Lebanon
6. The Face of the Camps: Leadership and Loyalty in Combat Units
7. "Every Faction for Itself": Personalized Militias and Fragmented Battle Lines
Conclusion: Echoes of Organizations
