Keep Them Isolated, Keep Them Down! Patterns of (Non-)Militarisation among Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

Abstract

Camp-based refugee populations are regularly connected to the phenomenon of refugee militarisation under certain circumstances. Rather surprisingly, Lebanon has not generally been subject to refugee militarisation among Syrians residing in informal tented settlements (ITSs). An exception to this national pattern is found in the area of the border town Arsal. There, some ITSs have been militarised by extremist groups. Following this deviance, the research question is: “Which factors determine militarisation – or a lack thereof – among camp-based Syrian refugees in Lebanon?” I pursue two goals: First, I aim at understanding the case of camp-based Syrian refugees in Lebanon, which I treat as a deviant case, with the help of an implicit within-case comparison with Arsal. Second, I want to bring nuance to the existing body of literature, by examining the dynamics that distinguish militarisation from non-militarisation and formulating new hypotheses that can inform further research on various categories of militarisation. The basis for this study is an eclectic theoretical framework which consists of six groups of militarisation risk factors: origin of the refugee situation, host state response, socioeconomic situation, humanitarian aid, political rights and camp characteristics. The research data was collected through semi-structured interviews with humanitarian workers involved in the refugee response in Lebanon during three weeks of fieldwork. This evidence was combined with a review of documents and other literature. My findings show that five dynamics between the selected risk factors, three multi-causal and two mono-causal, determined the outcome of largely non-militarisation on the national level. Accordingly, the pattern of (non-)militarisation among the studied refugee population is most importantly determined by a low initial militarisation potential and the special role of refugee camp leaders, as well as by keeping the refugee settlements isolated from each other and keeping their political activism and socioeconomic means down. Based on my findings, I generated seven hypotheses for further research.