Since the inception of the fragile nation-state in 1943, Lebanon has been faced with the constantly unstable predicament of being torn between Middle Eastern and Western orbits. After examining Lebanon's pre-war consociational democracy as well as the factors behind its collapse in 1975, Tamirace Fakhoury Mühlbacher analyses the post-war order (1990-2006) by shedding light on both interrelated phenomena: communal power-sharing in a turbulent environment and Lebanon's "hybrid democratisation" between Syrian tutelage and the impulses for more liberalisation against the backdrop of exogenous and endogenous factors. The author analyses in detail Lebanon's uncertain 2005 system transition, the so-called 'Beirut Spring', and its aftermath. In a critical perspective, she highlights fundamental communal and political dynamics that result from the collision of internal and external conflict lines on Lebanese ground, and how the former have impeded balanced power-sharing and democratisation in the small Arab Republic.

This book is essential reading for researchers and students from the social sciences, in particular sociology and political science.

Vorwort
The Case of Lebanon

Autorentext
Dr. Tamirace Fakhoury Mühlbacher completed her doctoral studies at the Department of Politics at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg and at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute. She is a researcher and the coordinator of the socio-political module of the CARIM Project at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

Zusammenfassung
Is democracy possible only in homogeneous societies? Does heterogeneity - clude a stable democracy? Throughout history, ethnic, linguistic, or religious homogeneity whether by circumstance, coercion, or choice, has seemingly been conducive to democracy. In France, democracy was established after the impo- tion of religious uniformity and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The United States pulled in immigrants who renounced their original affiliations to forge a new identity in a newly born state. Still, defying assumptions, democracies have emerged in heterogeneous states such as the Swiss Confederation, the Successor States of the Holy Roman Empire and, later, those carved out of the previous colonial empires. One common feature is the failure of often violent attempts to enforce homogeneity, or the lack of any such attempt in the first place. In the course of time, these divided societies have learned to live in diversity, to pacify their differences, and to find a path - wards peace or at least accommodation. In sum, they went beyond forms of se- rating powers to sharing power. Whether defined by ethnicity, language, religion, or even ideology, communities agreed to a pact on participating in a joint gove- ment based on proportional or even equal representation. It is noteworthy that political systems based on power-sharing were long marg- al in mainstream political science which laid an emphasis on democratic tran- tions in homogeneous societies and on socio-economic or cultural prerequisites that facilitate the rise of democracy.

Inhalt
Introductory Overview.- Review and Critique of the Literature on Consociational Democracy.- Pre-War Lebanon: a Dance into the Abyss of Consociationalism.- Post-War Lebanon: The Lost Republic's Peregrinations.- Post-War Lebanon's Long and Perilous Road to Democracy.- What about Post-War Consociationalism?.- Final Appraisal.