A Pendulum Between East and West–The Dilemma Strategies of a Historic Lebanese Leader: Rashid Karami

During the 1950s, Lebanon was swept into a series of turbulent events shaped by the global Cold War between East and West and the regional Cold War among Arab states. Crises such as the 1955 Baghdad Pact, the 1956 Suez War, and the 1958 Lebanese Civil War forced Lebanon to navigate the competing pressures of these geopolitical blocs. At this point, the Lebanese Sunni community aligned itself closely with the Arab world, while Rashid Karami, one of the community’s most prominent leaders and Lebanon’s longest-serving prime minister, was in the formative stages of his political career. Karami had to balance the aspirations of his community with his role in Lebanon’s complex political landscape. His efforts were directed toward aligning Lebanon with the broader Arab world, often through alliances with regional powers like Egypt and, later, the United Arab Republic. This article examines Karami’s early political actions within Lebanese and regional contexts. In many ways, Karami’s political journey mirrors that of the Sunni community in Lebanon, as his values and struggles closely reflected those of the broader community.