Titolo completo

Beyond Discards: Navigating Security and Space through Waste in Postwar Beirut

Since the end of the civil war (1975-89), Beirut has endured over 25 years of waste crises resulting from years of corruption and mismanagement. At the centre of this crisis lies the postwar power-sharing agreement which, through contested politics and competition, has led to the uneven distribution of waste hazards, marginalising vulnerable groups and destroying ecosystems. Discard studies provide a critical lens to unpack these dynamics by revealing the co-constructive processes of securitisation and spatialisation. Waste, in this context, highlights the silent, slow and violent aspects of securitisation relating to the politics of hazardous waste exposure, while also showing how these politics are spatially reproduced through the marginalisation and exclusion of communities living adjacent to Beirut’s coastal landfills. An analysis of the three levels of national security, human security and ecological security sheds light on how waste governance in postwar Beirut simultaneously protects political elites, deepens marginalisation and degrades urban ecosystems. Together, these insights demonstrate how the theoretical convergence between waste, security and space broadens our understanding of the environmental complexities in postwar urban environments.
Keywords: securitisation; spatialisation; waste governance; postwar cities; environmental justice