The ‘Politics of Representation’: Syrian Refugees in the Official Discourse in Lebanon(2011-2015)

Using a framework that draws on Stuart Hall’s ‘politics of representation’ approach, this study explores the framing and reframing of Syrian refugees in Lebanon since the onset of the Syrian war in 2011. This study analyzes how governmental speeches and statements are transformed over time, following the politicization of the Syrian refugee issue in Lebanon. The study places official statements in their wider context, in terms of local realities inside Lebanon and the settlement of Syrians in mainly impoverished communities. The method of framing is used to show a process over time that leads to ‘securitization’ of the Syrian refugee issue in Lebanon. This textual analysis allowed the researcher to identify multiple representations of Syrian refugees. Initially most statements expressed humanitarian framings that emphasized the host country’s shared responsibility with the international community, for the Syrian refugees’ well-being. Initially it had been expected that, as in Europe, the Syrian refugee issue in Lebanon would be framed as a security issue, given the geopolitical context. What was surprising, however, was that between 2011 and 2013 this did not take place. It took some time for the framings of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to be securitized. The study identified a set of key factors that appeared to change the discourses and framings over time and culminated in 2014 into securitization. This is seen as connected with the feared emergence of sectarian violence in Lebanon as the growing numbers of refugees threatened to offset the fragile confessional balance. Without justifying the closure of borders, the exclusion of refugees and leaving them in legal limbo, a key insight of this study is that only once the threat of domestic sectarian violence emerged, did Lebanese political leaders start to see Syrian refugees in the country as a security threat.