Beyond the Lines explores the social underpinnings of rebel adaptation and resilience. How do rebel groups cope with crises such as repression, displacement, and fragmentation? What explains changes in militant organizations' structures and behaviors over time? Drawing on nearly two years of ethnographic research, the book traces shifts in Palestinian militant groups' internal structures and practices during the civil war and foreign occupations of Lebanon between 1975 and 1990. It argues that most militants approach asymmetrical warfare as a series of challenges centered around information and logistics, characterized by problems such as supplying constantly mobile forces, identifying collaborators, disrupting rival belligerents' operations, and providing essential services like healthcare.

Beyond the Lines provides evidence for this argument by carefully detailing histories of violence and their effects on Palestinian communities both across and within three Lebanese cities—Beirut, Saida, and Sur. It follows local camp communities and branches of larger militant groups as they adapt to localized repertoires of violence—whether characterized by collective imprisonment, siege, mass killing, or collaboration. It shows that these experiences of violence profoundly shape how people relate to each other during war and how organizations constantly re-structure themselves to deal with threats to immediate survival and human security. Specifically, the work emphasizes the ways that violent tactics affect everyday social networks—those associated with kinship, marriage, friendship, business ties, etc.—shape the potential for militant groups to adapt in the face of violence and repression because they affect people’s perceptions, emotional responses, and understandings of their own place in the conflict.

Dr. Sarah E. Parkinson is the Aronson Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Her research examines organizational behavior and social change in war- and disaster-affected settings with a focus on Southwest Asia and North Africa. Parkinson has published research on militant organizations’ decision-making and internal dynamics, refugees’ access to healthcare, humanitarian aid, ethics, and research methods. More recently, she has been studying disaster response and public safety. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Lebanon, Iraq, and Qatar. Parkinson is a co-founder of the Advancing Research on Conflict (ARC) Consortium.

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