In this dissertation I examine why sectarianism persists among Lebanese youth. While much of the literature on communal conflict focuses on macro-level factors and elite-based explanations, I look to different, finer, levels of analysis for a fuller picture of how communal dynamics are reproduced, and why they persist-even where the literature would expect to find them lacking, such as among educated, economically secure young Lebanese, in western-oriented universities, or civil society movements. I argue that youth themselves, and particularly the young partisans of Lebanon's political parties, play an active role in the reproduction and rejuvenation of sectarian political dynamics 'from below.' The networking, strategies, and activities of youth within their political spheres constitute a 'feedback mechanism' operating at the grassroots to reproduce Lebanon's particular sectarian institutional configuration. I contend that youth not only contribute to the reproduction of sectarianism, they also help to adapt it and rejuvenate its appeal among their peers. I examine three spheres of youth politics: the university campus; youth-led civil society movements; and youth wings of political parties. I find that far from being the 'blind followers' of manipulative elites depicted in the literature, partisan youth act with more autonomy than is often assumed; generating new culture, styles, and social networks-all of which are imbued with sectarian affiliation. I also show that the politics of Lebanese youth are complex, ambivalent, and sometimes contradictory. Youth pursue multiple agendas-not only sectarian ones. In some cases, partisan youth even challenge their sect-based parties to develop more transparent, democratic institutions. Their efforts, however, get shut-down by political elites. Thus, while youth enjoy relative autonomy within their own political realms, the closer they come to the power of Lebanon's elites, the more limited it becomes. This study contributes to debates on path dependency, the persistence of communal categories, and challenges dichotomous conceptions of youth politics. To understand the political role of youth as more than simply the "hope" or "threat" for democracy, I argue we must look closely at the politics of everyday life and grassroots realms, and take youth seriously as political actors in their own right.