Primordial ties and politics in Lebanon

Abstract

indigenous and foreign alike - the political system in Lebanon stands as a curious but happy phenomenon. A pluralistic confessional society, it enjoys a parliamentary system of government with a freely elected Chamber of Deputies. Outwardly the country appears to be bolstered by liberal and democratic traditions, yet Lebanon hardly possesses any of the political instruments of a civil polity. A National Pact, a sort of Christian-Moslem entente, sustains its so-called national entity - al-kayan, yet this sense of identity is neither national nor civic. Its politicians, masterminds at the art of flexibility and compromise, are local zacims not national heroes. The few parties that do exist are so closely identified with sectarian groups and so unconcerned with a larger national identity that they can easily engender political disintegration. Likewise, its political blocs and fronts are so absorbed with parochial and personal rivalries that they fail to serve the larger national purpose of mobilizing the population for the broader aims of society. Politicians and pressure groups alike have not been able to transcend their petty personal feuds to grapple effectively with the public issues of the country. Precarious as this may seem, the political system has maintained a balance of power among its heterogeneous, confessional, ethnic, kinship and communal groups. Except for the crisis of 1958, this mosaic-like structure with its multiple allegiances and loyalties has been relatively stable and viable. It has demonstrated a remarkable resilience