Vertical Relationships: Connecting the Local to the National and Global

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This chapter discusses the notion of vertical relationships through complementarity, autonomy and agency, arguing that vertical relationships matter for other local developments, which in turn mitigate conflict. This chapter highlights a multi-level approach to local peacebuilding through vertical relationships between the municipality of Tyre, Bourj Hammoud and Saida and central state authorities, national political figures and international actors. In addition to discussing the municipalities’ relationships to these actors, the chapter analyses them in relation to local infrastructural developments and waste management. The chapter concludes that when vertical relationships promote a common vision, the municipality gains capacity and autonomy to pursue local developments with a peacebuilding potential. However, vertical relationships also differ and municipalities navigate different vertical relationships to pursue local goals. In Lebanon’s divided state and the polarization of the Middle East, such relationships may promote local peacebuilding through national and international divides, or pursue national peacebuilding goals at the expense of local peace.