Suchergebnisse

Lebanon, a multi-confessional state, is undergoing a deep socioeconomic change that could trigger a review of its constitutional arrangement. The tiny republic on the Mediterranean was born in 1920 as a liberal democracy with a market economy, where the Christians had the upper hand in politics and the economy. In 1975, Lebanon witnessed a major war that lasted for fifteen years, and a new political system emerged in 1989, dubbed the Ta'ef Accord. The new constitutional arrangement, also known as the "second republic," transferred major powers to the Muslims. Under the new republic, illiberal policies were adopted in reconstruction, public finance, and monetary policy, coupled with unprecedented corruption at the highest levels. On 17 October 2019, the country exploded in a social revolution which could precipitate the death of the second republic or the demise of the country as another victim of predator neoliberalism.

Abstract
This article reviews the contribution of two recent biographies about Rafiq Hariri: Citizen Hariri: Lebanon's Neoliberal Reconstruction, by Hannes Baumann and Architecture, Power and Religion in Lebanon: Rafiq Hariri and the Politics of Sacred Space in Beirut by Ward Vloeberghs. Baumann follows a "sociological" approach that uses the biography of an individual to explore the wider process of neoliberalism coming to Lebanon. Hariri looked over Lebanon's transition into a neoliberal economy, during a period that witnessed a Saudi–Syrian entente over the management of the affairs of Lebanon. Vloeberghs follows a multidisciplinary approach that combines insights from various social sciences in order to address the political dimensions of religious architecture and the politics of sacred space in general. Hariri is a controversial figure from recent Lebanese history. His political career is broken down into two periods in both books: prior to 1990, when he was a Saudi emissary and a powerbroker among the various parties during the Lebanon war; and as a statesman in the 1990s, when he climbed to center-stage of Lebanese power. He then started on a downward trend after 2000, and his assassination on February 14, 2005, almost tipped the country into civil strife.