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The Impact of Military Checkpoints on the Civilian Population's Perception of Security in Lebanon
Abstract
This research assesses the impact of military checkpoints by investigating the feeling of security/insecurity among the population exposed to these checkpoints. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Lebanon, quantitative data will be collected across various locations to produce an overall representation of the communities’ sentiments towards checkpoints. The findings will broaden the literature on checkpoints and their impact outside of the conventional scope of Israel-Palestine.This study aims to fill the gap within IR theoretical frameworks by demonstrating how checkpoints play a vital role in everyday practices while creating new understandings of the body in security practices. It does so by bringing notions of performance, affective atmospheres, and space into engagement with work on borderscapes to explore new understandings of security. From a Realist perspective, the role of the military is rigid and confined to national security including its checkpoints. Contrastingly, military checkpoints do more by facilitating and/or challenging the transition and maintenance of peacekeeping as well as influence the future governance of post-conflict societies. Since many regions are currently engaged in, transitioning from, or feeling the aftermath of armed conflict, the study will provide valuable insight into a reality which a vast percentage of the world’s population faces. I argue that military checkpoints are of vital importance in the overall reconstruction and stabilization of transitioning societies, whether by acting as a stimulant (safety) or as a deterrent (fear).
Discipline
Geography
International Relations/Affairs
Political Science
Geographic Area
Lebanon
Sub Area
None