Analysis of international terrorism from the point of sovereignty-authority relationship: Lebanon 1967-2006

In this study, It is analyzed that how the authority vacuum which emerged from failure of the state as sovereign power in Lebanon, by creating the conditions suitable for activites of transnational terrorism caused the rise of Hizbullah that challenges against the Lebanese state as an alternative force in the country.This study is consisted of three parts. The first part includes the studies on the theories of sovereignty appeared with the rise of modern state and the conept of state authority. In this part, I give place to the sovereignty theories of Jean Bodin who was the founder of the sovereignty theory, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. After that, I mention those topics: contemporary discussions on sovereignty, typological perspectives, the relation between political authority and societal consent, power, force and order. Finally in this part, I discuss the failed states. I show why those states are labeled as ?failed? after their failure to establish authority and the national and international problems arise from their failure as threats.The second part of the study includes the political history of Lebanon from Ottoman rule to today. In this part, events occured after the state have lost its authority; armed organizations established by different religious and sectarian groups and their clashes with each others; civil war, de facto partition of the country, intervention of Syria to the country militarily and politically, autonomy of Palestinian presence in the country, how it is involved in the Israel-Palestine conflict, how it is turned to a country that exports terrorism both to region and world, Hizbullah?s rise of the position that can be described as ?state within the state? are told in detial.The third and the last part, terrorist structure in failed state Lebanon is discussed within the contex of terrorism legitimized by religious discourse and then Hizbullah organization is analyzed. Establishment of Hizbullah organization, its relationship with Syria and Iran, its politicization process, its fight against Israel in the Lebanese territory and its new position in the country are explained in terms of the weakening authority of Lebanese state.Key Words: International Terrorism, Sovereignty, Authority, Lebanon, Hezbollah