Instruments and spaces of waste governance in Lebanon

Abstract

This article examines local authorities’ capacity to stabilise waste governance and the political effects of this change in local public action. The analytical framework used belongs to the sociology of public-policy instruments and follows the policies that municipal authorities have put in place to deal with an urgent problem. The study focuses on Lebanon because of its ongoing and still-unresolved waste crisis, which has led to widespread protests. More specifically, it focuses on three municipalities outside or at the margins of the capital region – Saida, Zahle and Bikfaya – where different types of (technologically and/or politically) innovative solutions have been implemented. We document the development of municipal policies for managing solid waste by looking at contracts, financing, communication, urban planning, operating areas, and the environment. We examine the political effects of the stabilisation of these assemblages of governance instruments from the point of view of the legitimation of local power, the construction of a local or regional cooperation area, and the relations between local and central power. Our research draws on press analysis and interview surveys conducted in the relevant localities and with the authorities making these policies. Results show that policy choices depend very strongly on the type of local political networks and on the degree of urgency of decision-making temporalities.