23 Feb 2015 | 5:30pm - 7:30pm | Room SG1, Alison Richard Building |
- Description
Description
Dr Sara Fregonese (Birmingham)
Abstract
International military aid to tackle Lebanon's state fragility and reaffirm its sovereignty has predominantly focussed on reinforcing its territorial boundaries. Currently, much international aid is concentrated on securing Lebanon's northern border, aiming to contain a 'spillover' of conflict from neighbouring Syria. However, borders are not where Lebanon's state fragility and fractured sovereignty are most apparent. Rather, social polarisation, division and sectarian conflict have, historically, been focused in Lebanon's cities, where hybrid arrangements of sovereignty have blurred classic binaries such as legitimate/illegitimate and state/nonstate. Through the example of UK military aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces, this seminar reflects on the tensions between state-centred approaches of international donors and volumetric and hybrid geographies of persisting urban violence.
Open to all. No registration required
Part of the City Seminar Research Group series