Power Sharing in Lebanon ― Consociationalism Since 1820

This book studies the origins and evolution of power sharing in Lebanon. The author has established a relationship between mobilization, ethnurgy (ethnic identification), memory and trauma, and how they impact power sharing provisions.

The book starts with the events in the 1820s, when communities politicized their identities, which led to the first major outbreak of civil violence between the Druze and the Maronites. Consequently, these troubled four decades in Lebanon led to the introduction of various forms of power sharing arrangements to establish peace. The political systems introduced in Lebanon are: the Kaim-Makamiya (dual subgovernorship), a quasi-federal arrangement; the Mutassarifiya, the prototype of a power sharing system; the post-independence political system of Lebanon which the book refers to as semi-consociation, due to the concentration of executive powers in the Presidential office; and finally, the full-consociation of the Taif Republic. In each of these phases, there was a peculiar interaction between the non-structural elements that had a direct impact on power sharing; sometimes this led to instability, and at other times it brought down the system, as in 1840-1860 and 1975.

Power Sharing in Lebanon is the first academic work that promotes the influence of non-structural elements that hinder power sharing. This volume is now a key resource for students and academics interested in Lebanese Politics and the Middle East.

Eduardo Wassim Aboultaif holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Otago, New Zealand. He studies power sharing in deeply divided societies, Middle East Politics, mobilization, memory and trauma. His work is published in Nations and Nationalism, Arab Studies Quarterly, Journal of Muslim Minority, Journal of Borderland Studies, and the Royal United Service Institute Journal.