Episode description

Emily Whalen is a historian of U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East. She is a doctoral candidate in History at the University of Texas - Austin, and an Earnest May pre-doctoral fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Soon to be Dr. Whalen essentially offers a thorough country profile starting literally with ancient history to the present unrest in Lebanon. We discuss how the political system represents the various ethnic and sectarian groups and their identities in modern day Lebanon, along with an explanation of the rise and resiliency of Hezbollah.

With Covid-19 pressuring an economic disaster, Lebanese are at a crisis point. In this episode we hear from someone who’s lived in Beirut, and made the troubled and fascinating country her life’s work. So far.  This was recorded just before the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Civil strife in the streets of Beirut only weeks early reflects a surprising similarity. Out of political and social division has risen a popular consensus for the need for reforms. You can find Emily Whalen on Twitter @eiwhalen  and more information at  emilyingridwhalen.com

Live Drop Episode 041

Links to resources mentioned:

The Impossible Solution, Yassin al-Haj Saleh
Augustus Richard Norton
The Belfer Center
The Good Spy, Kai Bird
Agents of Innocence, David Ignatius
Beirut Rules, Fred Burton
The Daily Star Lebanon

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