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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Lebanon
Index
The National Pact (al Mithaq al Watani), an unwritten
agreement, came into being in the summer of 1943 as the result of
numerous meetings between Khuri (a Maronite), Lebanon's first
president, and the first prime minister, Riyad as Sulh (also cited
as Solh), a Sunni. At the heart of the negotiations was the
Christians' fear of being overwhelmed by the Muslim communities in
Lebanon and the surrounding Arab countries, and the Muslims' fear
of Western hegemony. In return for the Christian promise not to
seek foreign, i.e., French, protection and to accept Lebanon's
"Arab face," the Muslim side agreed to recognize the independence
and legitimacy of the Lebanese state in its 1920 boundaries and to
renounce aspirations for union with Syria. The pact also reinforced
the sectarian system of government begun under the French Mandate
by formalizing the confessional distribution of high-level posts in
the government based on the 1932 census' six-to-five ratio favoring
Christians over Muslims. Although some historians dispute the
point, the terms of the National Pact were believed to have been
enunciated by the first cabinet in a statement to the legislature
in October 1943.
As noted, the confessional system outlined in the National Pact
was a matter of expediency, an interim measure to overcome
philosophical divisions between Christian and Muslim leaders at
independence. It was hoped that once the business of governance got
under way, and as national spirit grew, the importance of
confessionalism in the political structure would diminish. Over the
years, the frequent political disputes--the most notable of which
were manifested in the 1958 Civil War, the Palestinian controversy
of the 1960s and 1970s, and the 1975 Civil War--bear stark
testimony to the failure of the National Pact as a means toward
societal integration.
Moreover, some observers claim that the National Pact merely
perpetuated the power of the privileged. The pact, combined with
the system of zuama clientelism, guaranteed the maintenance
of the status quo and the continuation of privilege for the
sectarian elites.
Data as of December 1987
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