Lebanon is one of the Arab countries that is characterized by its hold to sectarianism. This means that the country allows the co-existence of diverse kinds of religions within its territories unlike some Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia which 100% Islamic. At present, the majority of its population is Muslim (54% Muslims = 27% Sunnis and 27% Shias), about the second majority are the Christians (41%) and the rest (5%) constitute the minorities. The diversity in religion in Lebanon has significant effects to its political, social, and economic realm.
In order to understand how the religion plays a crucial role in shaping the political, social and economic state of Lebanon it is important to go back in time, particularly in the 1900s – the beginning of its embrace to sectarianism. In 1920 to 1943 the French Mandate was in place. Through this mandate, France annexed Greek Orthodox, Sunni, and Shia. This annexing proceeded despite the resistance of the majority of the Lebanese populace to be united with Syria, due to the fact that before the annexing the majority of the population was already the Sunni Muslims. After annexing, France supported the “clientelist system,” which necessitated that community leaders become patrons for the populace in each of their locality. This type of governance had an immediate effect on the social realm. The community leaders are the religious leaders of each of the sects when France took over. This results to the stratification of the society based on religious affiliation. The current social description in Lebanon is that there are tightly-knit communities that belong to the same religion, but the same social relation is obscured between religions.
It is important to note that the laws that govern social relationships are mandated by the respective religious laws. For example, marriage is not something that the government has the power into, it is instead the religion to which a person is affiliated that could bind him or her to another person in matrimony. There are problems that arise from such power given to religion in Lebanon; such problems include gender inequality and problems associated with divorce. Note that while the Lebanese government leaves everything to the religious leaders when it comes to local marriages – there are no civil marriages – it allows civil marriages done on foreign countries (Sussman 1). This manner of governing Lebanon did not favor the establishment of a real relationship between the people and its central government. This, in turn, led to the weakening of the civil society (Badine 1).
It should also be noted that just like in any other Arab country that is dominated by Muslims, there exist a conflict between the followers of Islam and some minority religions. The example of such conflict is that between Maronites and the Muslims. Such conflicts have significant effects in the Lebanese politics. In the desire to unite all religions pacts and agreements were created. The “National Pact of 1943,” for example was made to reconcile Sunni Muslims and the Maronites. There is also the “Taif agreement of 1989,” which was made to instigate institutional reforms, although if barely succeeded. The prevailing political structure during the late 1900s up the present in Lebanon is that political positions are held people belonging to the same religious groups. For example, the President of the country should always be a Maronite, the Parliament president should always be Shia, and the president or head of the Council of Ministry should always be a Sunni. Such distribution is perceived as political equality and any attempt to disturbed such arrangement is deemed unfavorable. What the Taef agreement therefore did was not the strengthening of sectarianism or the enforcement of the sectarian system, but to simply guarantee representation of Christian, Muslim, and the religious minority representation (Badine 1). Researchers, however, argue that the pacts and agreement which were institutionalized in Lebanon during the 1900s were not really intended to be impartial with all religious sect. In fact, it is constantly noted that the Christians became the majority with a percentage of more than 40% in the population. Note that it was the Sunni Muslims who dominated Lebanon in the early 1900s, but in the later years of the century and in the current century their population was reduced to only 27% (Namour 12).
Because of the diversity of religion, the existence of religious conflicts, and the perceived partiality of the Lebanese government, Lebanon became involved in the popular revolution of the Arabs, called the “Arab Spring.” The Arab Spring is a revolution that started in the 8th December 2010 and it immediately swept the entire Arab World since then, particularly the members of the Arab League and their neighbors. The revolution is instigated, primarily with the growing dissatisfaction of educated youths and labor unions, who thought that there should be a change in the existing regimes on the nations aforementioned. While the centers of the revolutionary members were at the Arab nations where dictatorship was the form of government, Lebanon was not spared. This is due to the fact that inequalities, poverty, and religious laws that infringe upon the liberties of the people persist. Nevertheless, because the Lebanese government is not an authoritarian or a dictatorship, the effects of the revolutionary movements were only minute in the political realm. It was the Lebanon Arab Spring, which is also called the Cedar Revolution, which actually had great effects to the Lebanese politics. While the said revolution is view primarily from its political respective, it cannot be denied that it has something to do with the religious conflict between the two groups of Muslims who wants to dominate the political realm in Lebanon – the Sunnis and the Shia (Meier 2,3). While there are no strong evidence to suggest that the Shias in Lebanon are collaborating with Syrian forces in order to overthrow the, then current regime presided by its Prime Minister Rafic Hariri who is a Sunni, in 14th February 2005 the said prime minister was assassinated. His assassination was followed by diverse rallies and movements that condemns the assassination and calls for the Syrian forces to withdraw from Lebanese territories. The rallies were regular and had large numbers of participants. These rallies pressured many of the politicians. One of these politicians is Prime Minister Omar Karami who eventually resigned. The rallies also brought about three consecutive elections, the formation of a new government, and the withdrawal of the Syrian military forces from the Lebanese territories (Sutton 97).
Aside from the political repercussions, Lebanon’s Spring Revolution has also brought about gradual adverse economic effects. Accordingly, in 2004 Lebanon’s GDP growth was ta 7.4%. In 2005 – the year the Rafic Hariri was assassinated – the GDP growth went down to just 1%, and this further decreased to only 0.6% in 2006, this latter percentage did not improve much until the end of the 2010 Arab Spring (Sutton 100). It also important to note that the religion-related conflicts continue up to the present and are also related by my researchers to the Lebanon Arab Spring and the 2010 Arab Spring. Such conflicts include the tensions between the “anti-Assad Sunnis” versus the “pro-Assad Alawites” in Northern Lebanon. The former group even went so far as forming several jihadist groups (Khatib 1).
In conclusion, religious diversity has its pros and cons. In Lebanon the cons are most expressed in its economics and in its political realms. It could be concluded that the power of the diverse religions affect political decisions which is not so much the case on other countries such as that of the United States and other democracies. It can also be concluded that such infringement of religious powers to politics could become troublesome – it could even result to both political and economic instability as much as it can cause too much suffering to people.
It can also be concluded the political maneuverings could also affect the growth or spread of religion. This was manifested by the decrease of the Sunni and Shia population and the increase in the Christian population in Lebanon when it adopted the sectarian system for its government. This essay makes the final conclusion, therefore, that the Lebanese government should exert more authority. In order to do this it must be able to establish a real or strong relationship with the people so that it could intervene with the social life of its people. In a sense, Lebanon should strive hard to separate its government from the powers of religion.
Works Cited
Badine, Pamela Chrabieh. Religion and State Relations in Lebanon: Effects on Diversity. 29 March 2010. Web.
Khatib, Lina. Regional Spill Over: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict. 9 June 2014. Carnegie Middle East Center. Web.
Meier, Daniel. The Effects of Arab Spring and Syrian Uprising on Lebanon. Lebanese Center of Studies. 1 May 2014. Web.
Nammour, Jihad. State And Religion: Comparing Cases of Changing Relations. Friedrich Ebert Foundation and RES GERENDAE. 2011. Print.
Sussan, Anna Louie. In Lebanon, a Tangle of Religious Laws Govern Life and Love. The Atlantic. 21 September 2011. Web.
Sutton, Rupert. Lebanon’s Arab Spring: The Cedar Revolution Nine Years On, from A New Paradigm: Perspectives On The Changing Mediterranean. 2014. Print.
