The myth of “Zaim”/“Zuema”: revisiting 1950s Lebanese elite taxonomy and circulation

Abstract

This study challenges the prevalent use of the term “Zaim/Zuema” in analyzing Lebanese political leadership during the 1950s. While Arnold Hottinger popularized this terminology through his influential work on the 1958 Lebanese Crisis, this paper argues that such categorization oversimplifies and exoticizes the complex nature of Lebanese political elites. Building on and critiquing subsequent frameworks by Albert Hourani and Wade Goria, this study proposes a more nuanced categorization based on historical boundaries: “political elites of Mount Lebanon” and “notables of the attached areas.” Through examination of primary sources and contemporary accounts, the paper demonstrates how the Lebanese political landscape of the 1950s featured diverse actors ranging from aristocrats and feudal chiefs to modern politicians and ideological movement leaders. The study particularly focuses on the elite circulation during the 1952 “Rosewater Revolution” and the 1958 Crisis, revealing how personal rivalries, regional pressures, and global dynamics intersected in Lebanese politics. By relocating Lebanon’s political dynamics within a broader framework of elite circulation theory, this research challenges both the simplistic categorizations and conjectural localizations of terminology, contributing to a more sophisticated understanding of Lebanese political history in the mid-twentieth century.