To Hope or Not to Hope: Liberalism, Neoliberalism, and Learning from Lebanon’s 2022 Election

Abstract

This Rapid Communication examines Lebanon’s 2022 Parliamentary election in the context of other recent elections in consociational and populist regimes. The Lebanese electorate is now divided both by sectarian identity and by a pro- versus anti-establishment cleavage. This second cleavage makes Lebanon look more like other electoral authoritarian regimes. In light of scholarly work that ties electoral authoritarianism to late-stage neoliberalism, Lebanon’s recent election prompts renewed attention to the neo-liberal assumptions embedded in its and other consociational systems.