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Intimate Politics
The Art of the Political Relationship in Lebanon
in Anthropology of the Middle East
Author:
Isabelle Rivoal
Isabelle Rivoal
French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) isabelle.rivoal@mae.u-paris10.fr
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This article aims to analyse the patron–client relationship through a detailed ethnography of the everyday life of Walid Junblat's followers in Lebanon. It reveals how intimate people are with political figures, talking to them (in the form of their pictures), talking about them, thinking through them, playing off this intimacy to enter the political competition. Patrons also play their part in this relationship. The weekly political gatherings held at Junblat's Palace are the apex of this aesthetic of power. Detailed observations indicate how the lord orchestrates and varies the tempo of his interactions with the ritual audience, adding complexity and fluidity to the relation.