ABSTRACT
After examining the conditions of frustration that propelled the SSNP and its sympathizers in the Lebanese military to carry out the abortive coup of 1961, the study will now consider the situation at the formal political level of the Lebanese state. As stated earlier, 1 in order to understand the empirical relationship between frustration and coups d’état, it is necessary to tap the wider political community and identify the elements that coup makers consider relevant to their decision to support or oppose the government. The specification of these elements can be a rewarding exercise in the study of military coups because, on the whole, plotters are the product of the political environment as much as they are of military institutions. 2
