Consociationalism and State-Society Relations in Lebanon Norma
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Consociationalism and State-Society Relations in Lebanon Norma Roumie A Thesis Submitted to the School of International Development and Global Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the M.A. in International Development and Globalization School of International Development and Global Studies of Faculty of Social Sciences University of Ottawa © Norma Roumie, Ottawa, Canada, 2020 ii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgement/Preface: ........................................................................................................... iv CHAPTER 1 - Introduction and Literature Review ........................................................................1 Literature Review - Divided Societies and Power-sharing .....................................4 State-society Relations ...........................................................8 Conceptual/Theoretical Framework......................................................................15 Research Questions ...............................................................................................16 Methodology .........................................................................................................17 Ethics.....................................................................................................................23 CHAPTER 2 - Context - the History of Modern Lebanon ............................................................26 CHAPTER 3 - Identity and State - "Everyday Sectarianism" .......................................................36 Section one: Identity .................................................................................................................36 Chart 1: Overview of Sectarian Identification .....................................................36 Rhetoric ................................................................................................................39 Identity Lived Through Geography .....................................................................43 Section two - Representation and Views of the State ................................................................49 Authority on the Ground ......................................................................................54 CHAPTER 4 - Alternatives and Change ........................................................................................61 Interactions in Diverse Spaces ..............................................................................61 Chart 2: Overview of "Other" Forms of Identification .........................................61 "Other" Category...................................................................................................63 Potential for Systematic Change and Views Towards Civil Society ....................66 CHAPTER 5 – Analysis and Conclusion ......................................................................................72 Analysis..........................................................................................................................................72 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................81 REFERENCES: .............................................................................................................................87 iii Abstract Power-sharing arrangements between the elites of the dominant ethnic communities have been the preferred form of conflict management in post-conflict divided societies. The literature on the impact of power-sharing has often been dominated by macro-level analysis that places the main focus on elites and ethnic communities. However, there is only so much this can tell us about state- society relations and interactions. This thesis will focus on the missing individual micro-level analysis, through a case study of Lebanon – a country with a power-sharing model that is based on a deeply embedded political confessionalism. It will aim to examine how power-sharing has affected micro-level state-society relations in Lebanon, more specifically how it has contributed to the significant gap that exists in understanding individual’s perceptions and relations to the state and the dynamics that shape this. Part of this study will also assess whether identities remain firmly sectarian-based, as continuously claimed in the early literature/studies, or if there is a shift in identities and new social forces. iv Acknowledgments/Preface I want to thank my undergraduate professors who set me down the path to pursuing my masters and had a profound belief in me – Anna Lanoszka and John Sutcliffe. To my supervisor, Marie-Eve Desrosiers, thank you for your continued guidance throughout this process and for always asking the difficult questions and prompting me to be critical of my ideas. Ultimately thank you for always stressing that I needed to trust my researcher’s intuition. To my family – my mother Kafa and my father Ibrahim, thank you for pushing me to follow my dreams when you were not able to, this is for you. Thank you to my closest friends: Mathieu and Diana, who were always there to provide support and continuously listened to me talk about Lebanon and still took a genuine interest in this research. And how can I forget to thank all the amazing people I met during my fieldwork – to my wonderful flatmates May and Nada, for helping me navigate Beirut and supporting me in the challenges I faced in the field, and most of all thank you for all those laughs and making sure my Arabic was well understood. To Ashraf and Alex – thank you for your profound perspectives and belief in this research as it reflected on your daily lives. And most of all, thank you to my participants, who took a significant amount out of their days and let me in on their reality. I hope I was able to do justice to your narratives, fears, and everyday experiences because, at the end of the day, this research is about you. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction During a trip to Lebanon in 2015, I overheard two old men quarreling about their sense of the presence of the state - "wayn al dawla" (where is the state?) they asked. One contended that the weak state had been unable to provide the necessary electricity and garbage collection. The other instead claimed that their Zuamas – influential political leaders - were the ones who were failing to provide for their needs. It was clear from this conversation that what the state meant to each one of them was very different. This was amidst agitation over the lack of garbage collection and service provision that gathered 300,000 Lebanese in the capital of Beirut and mobilized the “You Stink” and “We Want Accountability” movement in 2015 (Ensor, 2015; The Sectarian Political System, 2012, 13). People were upset with the power-sharing system that was at the heart of Lebanon’s political structure, and linked the problem of garbage collection to the inefficient sectarian system that permitted corruption and government inefficiency, and neglected the environment and citizens (Nagle, 2017, p. 16-17). The 2018 parliamentary election, the first in nine years, gave rise to similar sentiments: increased voter skepticism regarding the political process and the prospect of change (Chulov, 2018). The election marked the lowest voter turnout despite bringing in many independent candidates that challenged traditional political elites (Khatib, 2018). “If I thought standing in a two-hour line to vote would change anything, I would have,” were sentiments shared by Beirut residents during the elections (Chulov, 2018, 1). Notwithstanding these recent trends, scholars have continued over the past decades to study post-conflict Lebanon primarily through the same lense, confessional communities, and sectarianism, neglecting how the Lebanese, as individual citizens, may understand and relate to the state. Recent feelings of insecurity and powerlessness, combined with dissatisfaction, suggests that it may be time to revisit notions surrounding the complex intangible dimension of state-society relations in Lebanon and delve deeper into local perspectives of the state. 2 Lebanon is a commonly cited example of a divided society with deep cleavages between its 18 religious/confessional communities and high political salience (Kachuyevski & Olesker, 2014, 304-306). Lebanon’s history - marked by a 15-year civil war, internal and external pressures, and periods of sporadic instability - have often relegated it to a state of fragility and high tensions. The Lebanese power-sharing model, institutionalized during independence and reinforced after the civil war (1975-1990), is based on a deeply embedded political confessionalism that allocates proportional representation and provides segmented autonomy and veto rights to the country’s confessional communities (Salamey & Tabar, 2008, 242; Bray-Collins, 2016, 446; Schmid, 2007, 30). This consociational power-sharing system is designed to accommodate elites and foster cooperation (Lijphart, 1969). However, there is very little understanding of how such an arrangement engages and impacts the relationship between individuals and the state – both formally and informally. Both power-sharing and sectarianism have become the predominant reading key of political relations and state-society relations. The early literature following the Lebanese civil war examined state-society relations