Informality and survival in times of crises: the role of the Quadripartite security committee in wartime Beirut

Abstract

Infrastructures are crucial for survival, never more so than during wartime. The history of the civil war in Beirut illuminates how access to infrastructure was maintained through informal relations despite strife and divisions. In this paper, the role of the Quadripartite Security Committee (QSC) in managing service provision for Beirut’s habitable areas is explored. The QSC was set up to liaise between political parties in an effort towards reconciliation. At its inception, it focused on preserving the ceasefire between partisans and establishing security in the city. This paper shows how between c. 1984 and 1988, the QSC also managed infrastructure services crucial for the survival of people in wartime Beirut. During that time, the QSC coordinated with various militias, government officials and local authorities to ensure road and street access throughout the city, the maintenance and repair of infrastructure, as well as food provision. The functioning of these infrastructure services meant that the city remained inhabited during the war. Analysing infrastructures as large sociotechnical systems that shape and are shaped by urban socio-political life, this paper delves into this historic case to broaden our understanding of how informality functioned as a crucial element of survivability in the city.