The Pearl of the Mediterranean. An Analysis of the Causes of the Lebanese Civil War and if Lebanon can be regarded as a Deviant Case.

Sammanfattning: This Master thesis analyzes the causes to the Lebanese civil war and if Lebanon can be regarded as a deviant case in comparison to existing civil war theories that explain the outbreak of civil wars. The author has composed his own civil war theory, consisting of the most commonly used explanatory factors behind the causes of civil wars and this theory is applied on the Lebanese civil war to be able to answer the research questions. A qualitative method and a literature study are being used to answer the questions at issue. The results show that political discrimination, a government breakdown and the involvement of external actors explain the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war. Furthermore, Lebanon corresponds to the theoretical framework regarding the political instability and the external actors’ role in a country before a civil war, while Lebanon becomes a deviant case when comparing it to the variables of economy, “new wars” and to some extent the regional impact on Lebanon. This thesis proves that a stable economy is not a guarantee against an outbreak of civil war. It shows that a discriminating political system is one of the main causes of civil war and it evidently shows that external powers most often have a personal interest in a civil conflict that takes place in their surrounding area.