Resumen de Resentment as an Emotion Regulation Strategy in International Politics: The Lebanese-Syrian Relationship
Resentment lies at the heart of world politics. Indeed, the international system is characterized by an anarchic structure and, as a consequence, by power struggles. This particular feature of world politics has several implications in terms of disparities and status hierarchy (Smouts, Battistella, Vennesson, 2006: 470). The imbalanced structure of the international system can generate anger, feeling of unfairness, frustration, and envy.
At the same time, the "international community" -a moving set of identities and norms- constrains to some extent the emotional experiences of decision-makers. Thus, in my case study, Lebanese political leaders could not, for material and moral reasons, « react » (in the Nietzschean sense) to pain and humiliation following thirty years of Syrian occupation and the 2005 murder of the charismatic Sunni leader, Rafic Hariri. Resentment provides the ability to cope with the stimulus event while lowering its negative impact on psycho-physiological well-being (Lazarus, Folkman, 1984: 196).
Political resentment is the pain experienced in reaction to an offense or a humiliation which lasts through its memory. It provokes a revenge desire against those who are considered to be responsible for the wrong suffered.
Finally, resentful political actors cannot fully express their anger because they are unable to undertake a genuine action. Functional mechanisms of resentment then allow, through retaliatory and, most of time, symbolic measures, to keep a mental balance. Resentment reduces anger and pain intensity through cognitive and emotional processes. As a result, vengeful policies are strategies to cope with threatening events. However, resentment is usually linked with danger and hostility. It looks like a "perverted desire of revenge" (Zizek, 2008) and it is associated with extreme displays of violence (Scheff, 1994; Petersen, 2002; Burrin, 2004). However, in some cases and under specific circumstances, resentment can stop fierce, heated, and destructive emotions.
In other terms, the paper rejects an entirely negative vision of resentment, arguing that at times it can prevent violent conflicts. By relying on emotion regulation theory and the concept of coping, the paper sustains a balanced view of resentment in world politics (Gross, 2007). Resentment introduces a secondary appraisal in order to match socially satisfactory emotional behavior (Luminet, 2008: 217). Moreover, resentment is a social emotion which often translates a pain which comes from the re-consideration of an emotional attachment. From this perspective, the Syrian government, deeply humiliated by the ashamed circumstances of its retreat and the sudden reconsideration of its « big brother » (Bachar el-Assad's quotation) status vis-à-vis Lebanon, has applied revenge politics toward its neighbor. The economic blockade at the Syrian-Lebanese border during the summer 2005, the massive gunrunning, and the burning statements are just a few examples of retaliation measures which were deployed with the purpose to punish Lebanon for its behavior.
This paper aims at establishing a model for analysis of political resentment in international relations against the backdrop of the Lebanese-Syrian case. Following the lineage of Petersen, it is argued that, in addition to the micro-psychological foundations of individual resentment, the macro-structural context matters as well. Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Lebanese-Syrian history has been in fact marked by "a tormented combination of attraction and repulsion, of love and hate" (Seal in Chaitani, 2007: IX). This paradoxical situation has generated resentful developments.
The paper is organized into three sections. The first presents the theoretical model of political resentment in international relations. The second shows how and under which circumstances resentment precludes high intensity violence. The last one demonstrates the way in which resentment has acted in the Lebanese-Syrian history and it has affected their relationship. The resentment presence and its influence are analyzed with the help of historical data, analysis of political discourse and interviews which have been carried out with Lebanese and Syrian political leaders.
