Warlords and Merchants: History of the Lebanese Political and Business Establishment Book

The main argument of the book is that the Lebanese state has historically been controlled by the capitalist class/big businessmen (the "merchants" in the title) and the feudal lords (both categories not being mutually exclusive of course) to the detriment of the population at large. Anyone familiar with Lebanon easily knows that this argument is not new - convincing cases have already been made back in the early post-independence days by both Lebanese and non-Lebanese scholars, highlighting how the Lebanese state is little more than a vehicle through which sectarian feudal lords and their cronies in the private sector enrich themselves and ensure that their narrow interests are always preserved and maintained. This book poorly rehashes previous arguments, without adding much to the debate.

The book's structure is somewhat confusing and disjointed. The introductory chapters attempt to give a historical overview of Lebanon (going back to the days of the Phoenicians, passing through the Islamic conquests and the Ottoman era), but the presentation is far too broad and superficial to be useful. The book then takes us to the modern era (late Ottoman/mutassarifiyya period, French Mandate, post-independence period), explaining how the interests of the "warlords" and the capitalist class/big business have always been intertwined, and their narrow interests led the country into the abyss. The chapters on the civil war are the book's strongest point, as the author (who is an economist) makes use of quantitative data to explain what was happening in the country. However, the weak writing style, coupled with the very loose usage of the term 'warlord' (the author seemingly confuses the term with 'feudal lord') and the disjointed nature of the text made me force myself to finish the book.

The referencing is very poor. While a bibliography exists at the end of the book and at the end of each chapter there is a "Notes" section, there are many facts and figures that are mentioned without any source or reference or footnote put next to them. In addition, some paragraphs are repeated throughout the text (I cannot remember which ones exactly), and there are some factual errors (at the top of my head, I recall the author stating that Takieddine Solh became Prime Minister in May 1992 - in reality, Rachid Al Solh became PM in May 1992). The Statistical annex at the end of the book is perhaps one of the book's sole redeeming qualities, as it contains many useful figures that researchers interested in better understanding the Lebanese economy can make use of.

Lebanon has long fascinated many scholars, and countless books have been written about it over the years. Some are brilliant studies that deeply dissect the country's social, economic and political context, explaining how sectarianism, capitalism and local/regional/international political intertwine and intersect; others are surface-level accounts that simply state facts with little in-depth analysis. This book unfortunately falls in the latter category.