The collapse of the Lebanese state

In the 1980s, Lebanon cannot be considered to be a sovereign independent state, and its government controls neither most of the territory of the state nor its people. Lebanon, which was established as an independent state in 1946, is a jigsaw of religious-ethnic communities which share a long history of continuous conflict. There are several Christian communities in Lebanon: the Maronites consider themselves to be the founders of the Lebanese state and have clashed in the past with the Druze community and, during the 1975-76 civil war, with most of the Muslim communities; the Lebanese Greek Catholics and Armenians have usually supported the Maronite position, but the Greek Orthodox, who are concentrated in Northern Lebanon, hold pro-Syrian and pan-Arabist views, which have isolated them from the rest of the Christians. The Muslims are divided into Shiite, Sunni and Druze. Since the Civil War, the Shiites have been fighting against the Christians and also had a struggle against Sunni establishment concerning political representation of their sect. The Sunni masses were radicalized by the Palestinians in the 1970s and took up a position against Maronite political supremacy in Lebanon. The Druze, led by Jumblatt, took the leading position in the Leftist-Muslim camp during the 1975-76 Civil War. In addition to the internal sectarian conflicts, there have always been external powers which have helped to disintegrate the Lebanese state. The Great Powers France, Great Britain and the United States have always been interested and involved in Lebanese affairs as have Lebanon's Arab neighbors, especially Syria, which has taken an active interest and often intervened in Lebanese affairs. In the last decade Israel has also become deeply involved in Lebanon. The purpose of this article is to show that the collapse of the Lebanese state is based on the fact that Lebanon has been, to coin a word, a malintegrated state from its very beginning, and has failed in the development of a viable state-idea and the establishment of common socio-cultural values. Moreover, a confessional schism was built into the Lebanese polity, therefore increasing the rate of the disintegration of the state. The economic cleavages within the Lebanese society reinforced schisms in other spheres until, finally, the Lebanese state collapsed. These issues are discussed under four headings: Lebanon as a community of sentiment; Lebanon as a socio-cultural community; Lebanon as a political community and Lebanon as an economic community.