Crisis management in divided societies the case of Lebanon

Abstract

This essay explores the crisis management in deeply divided societies, as the actuality of the subject is vital under the light of rapidly changing relations on the international arena. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1990s, conflict resolution in divided societies has taken the attention by growing number of separatist movements around the World. Thus, market liberalization and the scarcity of natural resources has changed the struggling states’ approaches toward power-sharing rules, resulting in political and financial crises. Consequently, the problem of crisis management in divided societies is thought to be resolved through the Consociational Democracy. The actuality to discuss the Lebanese case is proposed by the current crisis, which began in March 2013, when the Prime Minister Najib Mikati was forced to resign and the Parliamentary Elections were postponed until November 2014. This event endangered the Presidential Elections, as the term of the current President, Michel Suleiman will expire on May 25, 2014. Nevertheless, the insufficient Electoral Law became the main source of the inefficient governance system reproduction, which experiences a deadlock almost for several times since the independence of the state. Lebanon’s historical background that legalized the system of elitism and foreign inclination are driving the state into crisis environment, which supports the hypotheses of the current master’s essay.