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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Lebanon
Index
The Lebanese confessional "societies" reflect the tensions at
the heart of Lebanese society. While Muslims and Christians have
lived together in Lebanon for over a century, their deep
disagreements over the Lebanese political formula and state make it
unrealistic to treat all Lebanese as members of one social unit.
Since the creation of the republic, the Lebanese have disagreed
over the identity of the new state. Although Muslims, specifically
the Sunnis, were inclined toward a close association with Greater
Syria and the Arab world, Christians, particularly the Maronites,
opted for linking Lebanon culturally and politically to the Western
world. Christians were not opposed to economic cooperation with
Arab countries, to which Lebanon exported most of its products, but
they insisted on distinguishing Lebanon's foreign policy from that
of its Arab neighbors. The question was not whether Lebanon should
be Arab, since as early as 1943 the National Pact (the governing
formula) declared Lebanon as having "an Arab face." Rather, the
postindependence debate was really over how Arab Lebanon should be.
This debate was exacerbated in the 1950s by former Egyptian
President Gamal Abdul Nasser's pan-Arab activism on the one hand,
and former Lebanese President Camille Shamun's (also seen as
Chamoun) pro-Western administration on the other.
The controversy over the identity of Lebanon extended beyond
the political realm to encompass questions of culture and
literature as these were presented in school textbooks. Muslims in
general, as well as the Greek Orthodox, insisted that Arab and
Islamic culture and literature should be emphasized, whereas Uniate
Christians refused to commit Lebanese education to what they
considered an inferior culture. The Maronite political movement
viewed Lebanon's culture as distinctively Lebanese in its origins
and values.
Regardless of sectarian affiliation, Lebanon has no civil code
for personal matters. Lebanese citizens therefore live and die
according to sectarian stipulations. Each sect has its own set of
personal status laws that encompass such matters as engagement,
marriage, dowry, annulment of marriage, divorce, adoption, and
inheritance. These laws are binding on the individual, whether one
is a practicing member of the sect or not. The confessional system
of personal-status laws strengthens the role of communal religious
leaders and impedes the evolution of Lebanese nationalist or
universalist secular ideas.
The economic history of Lebanon has been marred by an unequal
distribution of national income and misallocation of benefits and
funds. The central government tended to regard the regions that
were annexed to what was Mount Lebanon in 1920 as marginal parts of
Lebanon. Furthermore, the centralization of government in Beirut
worsened the conditions of the rural areas, luring many Lebanese to
crowded, confessional community, poverty belts around the
metropolitan center. The central government's neglect of southern
Lebanon, particularly, contributed to a feeling of humiliation by
the Shias, who in 1987 constituted the largest sectarian community.
The economic situation in peripheral Lebanon, which
geographically comprises the provinces of Al Janub and, Al Biqa,
and the Akkar region in Ash Shamal Province, differed sharply from
that around Beirut. Economic exploitation was more evident in these
areas, with the dominance of feudalistic production patterns. The
land was divided among a small elite, and working conditions on the
large estates were harsh. In addition, state services were scarce
outside the capital. Beirut and its suburbs became politically and
socially explosive when people from the impoverished periphery
migrated to the city and came in contact with the affluent city
dwellers.
Data as of December 1987
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