Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, is frequently described as a bastion of religious radicalization and Political Islamism. Sunni City: Tripoli from Islamist Utopic to the Lebanese ‘Revolution’ challenges established narratives—particularly Bernard Rougier's The Sunni Tragedy in the Middle East: Northern Lebanon from al-Qaeda to ISIS—that Sunni Islam's lack of religious hierarchy led to the fragmentation of Sunni political authority and thus gave way to the growth of Islamist movements within the city. Tine Gade instead argues that Tripoli's politics are the result of governance failures by the Lebanese state and local elites. She offers a richly detailed, bottom-up perspective of the influence that sectarianism, clientelism, foreign influence, and state neglect have had on Tripolitan politics over the course of a century.

Gade employs the concept of city corporatism to show how Tripoli has had a unique character—one that is based upon regional pride, antistate sentiments, and an increasingly sectarian character. Sunni City first shows how early political elites, specifically the Karami family, relied upon clientelism to gain support during the early years of the Lebanese state. In doing so, political parties never became as well established in Tripoli as they did elsewhere i