Contenu du sommaire : Recompositions au Moyen-Orient

State's Strategies and Social Aspirations in the Middle East
State structures and civil societies are moved by specific dynamics, often opposed yet sometimes in synergy, and this dialectic relationship, varying between confrontation or correspondence, will hold the attention in order to evaluate the inertias and evolutions of an area confronted to various problems. Tensions between states and societies will be firstly assessed through endogeneous factors and secondly from the angle of foreign and international influences which play an important role, be it objective or emotional, in the actors' strategies. The analysis will show the fossilization of many political regimes – sometimes until their collapse – and the strengthening – or the crumbling – of security services versus the difficult emergence of civil societies. The historical events that shake the Arab world since the beginning of 2011 necessarily call for a reinterpretation of facts even though they do not fundamentally challenge the first analysis.

Post-2006 South Lebanon Reconstruction: New Actors, New Practices, New Space?
The reconstruction issue is not new in a country which went through years of civil war and had to reorganise the social space in order to recreate a social link between its divided parties. However the post-2006 reconstruction and the issues pertaining to it are associated with rural reconstruction and only apply to certain areas. Since the end of the civil war, the Lebanese state attempted to have a say in the national construction process without successfully establishing its authority on all parts of the national territory. Thus the Lebanese state let some local political forces and private structures occupy the space. The planned return of the Lebanese state in South Lebanon, a deserted zone after the 2006 war, will be a premiere. This intervention of the Lebanese state is backed up and even demanded by its international allies. However this intervention worries the local social actors which see this return with apprehension. They are worried about the organisational tensions which could be provoked by the return of the national state facing the local political forces and the private sector in these zones. It is necessary to explore and analyse these aspects and the new organisation resulting from the interaction between the local permanent actors and the newcomers in the reconstruction process in South Lebanon.

The Islamic Resistance in South Lebanon (1982-2010) : Identity's Construction at the Border
Historically, Hizballah has put the resistance against Israel at the core of its own identity, as its raison d'être. We must remember that its Islamic will to mobilise against the Israeli occupation of Lebanon happened because of the 1982 Israeli invasion. After its appearance and its growth in the Bekaa, Hizballah found its favourite battleground in the south of Lebanon in order to mobilise on political, religious, and military bases. The post-civil war era allowed Hizballah to reinforce its strategic and political hegemony on this territory. The reasons for this were, on the one hand, the Israeli military withdrawal in 2000 and, on the other hand, its “divine victory” over the Israeli army during the war of July 2006. Now that the Party of God starts a new wave of entryism targeting the Lebanese state, this paper would like to examine the place that the south borderland area has in the political and military strategies of Hizballah's identity. We will then look at the connections between the notions of identity and borders that one can observe in the political speech and also in the everyday and military actions on the ground from the beginning until today. We would then suggest the idea that the borderland area of South Lebanon has significant political resources for its own identity and, by the way, for its political goal.

Live together but separately?
Contrary to Western countries where federalism is broadly acknowledged, Arab regimes are staunchly centralized and often condemn this form of governance, accusing it of paving the way to partition, hence serving the interests of Israel. This paper addresses the claims for federalism in Lebanon, i.e. the increased political autonomy of religious sects within a unified nonunitarian state in order to establish permanent civil peace. It focuses on the historical and political context in which those claims have emerged, and sketches the profile of the actors who have developed them. It also goes over the main reactions towards federalism and the arguments against it. The federalist doctrine in Lebanon reposes on three pillars : the yearning for sustainable physical security for all groups ; total cultural and religious freedom ; absolute equality between Christians and Muslims, and refusal of any form of marginalization of minorities. Although primarily concerned with the fate of the Christian communities, federalism is increasingly envisaged nowadays as a means to alleviate the Sunni-Shi‘i confrontation.

Sociopolitical recomposition in the Palestinian Refugee Camp of Yarmouk
Since the late 90s, the Yarmouk refugee camp knew many political changes. In a context marked by the disengagement of refugees from the nationalist and leftist factions, Hamas gained a growing social and political role within the camp, particularly following the establishment of a political office in the Syrian capital in 1993. In this paper I propose to analyze the discourse and the mobilization strategies adopted by Hamas to gain the support of refugees. I will show how this movement adjusted its action to the particular context of the camp and the host country. At the same time I will show how this movement affected the social lives of refugees, their representations and their participation to the national cause.

Turkey Disoriented, or a Regional Power's Emergence?
Disappointed by the European Union's attitude, is Turkey falling over to the Arab-Muslim world, to the detriment of its pro-westerner orientation? Is it about an adaptation to the world's evolution, without significant change or a real Turkish politic's reorientation? Or does we simply attend to the emergence of a new regional power and its inevitable consequences on its traditional alliances? Since several years, the questions are increasing in the country, in the Middle East and in the West. This article tries to do the outline of an analysis of this new situation.

Determinants of the French Arab Policy: A Comparative Approach
This article tries to decipher the tenets of the Arab policy of France at a moment when the Arab region lives at the rate of deep political changes. The depth and thickness of the historic relations and the current geopolitical context are liable to condition widely the major orientations of the French foreign policy in the region. This policy will be called to revise its strategies in order for it to be in tune with the ongoing transitional development in action on the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.