The Socio-Ideological Development of the Maronite Community: The Emergence of the Phalanges and the Lebanese Forces

The difficult task of understanding the tragedy of Lebanon is made all the more intractable by the country's political system, which defies the classic analytical categories.1 In peace as in war, Lebanon is the fruit of a political reality begotten by history and nurtured by anthropology. The many and varied communities that make it up both espouse and transcend political issues. Among these communities, the Maronite community is distinguished not so much by a consensus as by a relative homogeneity of a sort that cannot be found in any of the other communities whether Druze, Sunni, Shiite, or Christian (Greek Orthodox, Armenian, etc.)all of which are marked by frankly antithetical political currents. Moreover, with the exception of emigrants, the Maronite community lives almost entirely within Lebanese territory and has no coreligionists in the hinterland, as do Lebanon's other Christian and Muslim communities. Finally, since the creation of Lebanon early this century, the Maronites have enjoyed a dominant position within the state and its institutions. All of these factors combine to make an historical analysis of the anthropological phenomenon that is the Maronite community, an essential step towards understanding the modern-day tragedy of Lebanon, if not in its momentary totality, than at least in one of its most significant components. The first task is to understand the social development of the community as such, and to identify and study that element within it that fosters its internal social cohesion. Then, a look at its external relationships will reveal the means by which it maintains that communal cohesion within its geographical and historical environment. These means will demonstrate their significance and effectiveness through their capacity to adapt to circumstances and to ensure the continued cohesiveness of the group. In other words, between its religion, which has defined the Maronite