Bassel F. Salloukh is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut. His latest book is the co-authored 'The Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon' (Pluto Press, 2015).
Comment: Leaders in the Arab world should take their cue from Obama and recognise the limits of America's influence, or risk witnessing further war and destruction, writes Bassel F. Salloukh.
Comment: Successful people of supposed Lebanese descent can be found all around the world, but, Bassel Salloukh asks, what about those who toil away to build a better Lebanon?
Comment: The creative ways in which postwar plural societies can be governed are dangerously undermined through reductionist binary options of ethno-sectarian federalism and hyper-centralised state, writes Dr. Bassel F. Salloukh.
The political fallout between Lebanon's political groups over withdrawn Saudi funding exposed a dysfunctional state in which citizens suffer from a corrupt political elite and a deteriorating quality of life.
Comment: Modern day sectarianism in the Middle East is often dismissed as 'ancient hatreds' continuing into the present day, but this goes against historical precedents says Bassel F. Salloukh.
Comment: In 2015, Europe faced blowback from the war in Syria, while the Arab World witnessed the continuation of a downward spiral into a seemingly bottomless abyss, writes Bassel Salloukh.
Comment: One of the casualties of the wave of terrorist attacks unleashed by IS is the anti-sectarian movement galvanised by Lebanon’s summer garbage crisis, writes Bassel Salloukh.