The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon

The Double Tragedy of Refugees and Impacted Host Communities

By (author) Robert G. Rabil

Not available to order

Publication date:

29 July 2016

Length of book:

150 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498535137

This book examines the unfolding of the Syrian refugee crisis in relation to the spillover of the Syrian civil war in Lebanon and against the background of Lebanon–Syria relations and Lebanon’s socio-political, cultural, legal, and economic conditions. It surveys Lebanon’s response plans to the refugee crisis as part of the development of the international response plans to address the protection and needs of the Syrian refugees and Palestinian refugees from Syria, as well as the impacted host communities and institutions. At the same time, this book emphasizes the dramatic shift in popular and institutional attitudes towards the refugees as a response to and as a growth of the sheer magnitude of the refugee crisis, which made Lebanon the only country in modern history with the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world. By examining these attitudes against the background of achievements and failures of the response plans, the impact of the crisis on state institutions on the local and national levels, and the collective consciousness of a nation barely surviving the scars of its civil war, this book not only underscores the deepening tragedy of Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, but also the consequential tragedy of many Lebanese, who have been forced into poverty and whose livelihoods have been affected by insecurity and the almost complete collapse of social services. As a result, the tragedy of the Syrian refugee crisis has become an international crisis affecting vulnerable persons across nationalities, and, unless it is addressed diplomatically and its response plans sufficiently funded, the tragedy will only deepen across continents.

Introduction
Chapter 1. The Syrian Refugee Crisis and Lebanon’s Dynamics: A Background
Chapter 2. The Geographical Concentrations and Evolution of the Number of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
Chapter 3. The Legal Status of Syrian and Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
Chapter 4. The Evolving Response to the Refugee Crisis
Chapter 5. The 3RP and the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan: Achievements and Failures
Chapter 6. Refugees and Terrorism: Culprits or Guilty by Association
Conclusion

Roughly one in four persons in Lebanon today is a Syrian refugee, giving the country the highest proportion of refugees in the world. Professor Rabil takes careful stock of what this means for Lebanon, the refugees it hosts, the region, and the international community. He does so with a rare ability to combine excellent scholarly analysis, personal anecdotes from his fieldwork in Lebanon, and clear, accessible language. Anyone wishing to better understand Lebanon or the complex ways in which the Syrian civil war impacts people and neighboring states will very much appreciate Professor Rabil's work.