The vast majority of the conflicts confront-
ing the world today, including ethnic conflict,
religious violence, and the widening gap between
developed and developing nations, reflect these
problems. Many Islamist movements, for exam-
ple, contest the authority of human-made law
and of human sovereignty, both central to the
concept of the modern state and to international
law. Islamist movements, however, are certainly
not alone in raising questions about the validity
of international law. In many quarters of the world
international law is a contested entity, far from the
universally accepted regulatory system envisioned
by 19th- and 20th-century American and Euro-
pean scholars and policymakers.
See also arab-israeli conFlicts; camp david
accords; citizenship; colonialism; dar al-islam
and dar al-harb; gUlF Wars; islamism; hUman
rights; Jihad movements; terrorism.
Caleb H. ElfenbeinFurther reading: Francis Anthony Boyle, Foundations
of World Order (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press,
1999); Richard A. Falk, Unlocking the Middle East: The
Writings of Richard Falk, An Anthology (New York: Olive
Branch Press, 2003); Wilhelm G. Grewe, The Epochs of
International Law (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2000);
Majid Khadduri, The Islamic Law of Nations: Shaybani’s
Siyar (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1966);
Majid Khadduri, The Law of War and Peace in Islam (Bal-
timore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955).
Laylat al-Qadr See night of destiny.
League of Arab States See arab league.
Lebanon (Official name: Lebanese
Republic)
Lebanon is a small country of about 3.9 million
people (2008 estimate) occupying a land of leg-
endary beauty, which totals a little over 4,000
square miles at the eastern edge of the Mediter-
ranean Sea. It is smaller than the state of Con-
necticut in the United States. Bordering israel
on the south and syria on the north and east,
Lebanon comprises a narrow coastal plain that
rises into the Lebanon Mountains, which parallel
the sea and peak at the perennially snowcapped
10,131-foot Qurnat al-Sawda. Historically called
“The Lebanon,” these mountains drop on the east
into the Beqaa Valley, which extends to the Anti-
Lebanon Mountains at the eastern border. In gen-
eral the coastline features a combination of rough
shores, fine beaches, and ancient ports; the coastal
plain is fertile and relatively humid; the Lebanon
Mountains are rugged and lush; and the Beqaa is
agricultural and relatively dry.
The population is about 60 percent Muslim
and 40 percent Christian, with Shiis representing
the largest Muslim group (1.2 million, 2005 esti-
mate) and Maronites forming the largest Christian
denomination (estimated between 800,000 and
900,000). Lebanon also has a significant drUze
population. Arabic is the official language, though
French, English, and Armenian are also spoken.
The government has a democratically elected par-
liament, a president as chief of state, and a prime
minister as head of state. The economy is about 67
percent service-based, 21 percent industry, and 12
percent agriculture, with substantial remittances
also coming from large numbers of Lebanese liv-
ing abroad.
Colonial empires throughout history have
been attracted to the desirable location and natu-
ral habitat of Lebanon, and a striking legacy of
Roman and native Phoenician ruins remains to
the present. In the seventh century the Byzantine
Empire lost control of what is now Lebanon to
the rapidly expanding Islamicate empire, thereby
setting the stage for the complex religious demo-
graphic that continues to exist today. In a succes-
sion of shifting reigns, the Crusaders seized the
area in the 12th century, the Mamluks took control
in the 13th century, and the Ottomans ascended toLebanon 441 J