Description
Book SynopsisIn 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 Bhara
Trade Review
Overall, Compassionate Communalism is the kind of work on non-state social welfare that fills a gap in the political economy literature. I highly recommend the book for anyone interested in Lebanese and Middle Eastern politics, political economy in weak states, ethnic politics and consocialism.
-- Barea M. Sinno * International Affairs *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Welfare and Sectarianism in Plural Societies
2. Political Sectarianism and the Residual Welfare Regime in Lebanon
3. Political Mobilization Strategies and In-Group Competition among Sectarian Parties
4. The Political Geography of Welfare and Sectarianism
5. Political Loyalty and Access to Welfare
6. Sectarian Parties and Distributional Politics
7. Welfare and Identity Politics beyond Lebanon
Conclusion: The Consequences of Welfare Provision by Identity-Based Organizations
Appendixes:
A. List of Elite Interview Respondents and Provider Questionnaire
B. List of Nonelite Interview Respondents and Questionnaire
C. National Survey Questions
