Introduction

This chapters introduces the reader to the argument and the aim of the book. The author intends to extend the understanding of consociationalism beyond the structural concepts of grand coalition, mutual veto, proportionality and segmental autonomy; consociationalism is directly hampered by sectarian/ethnic identification and mobilization, in addition to communal memory and trauma. These three factors are interlinked and they do affect stability in consociational systems. The Lebanese case is a good example of the relationship between these three factors and power sharing. Hence, the contribution of this work is twofold: theoretical, in enhancing the understanding of consociationalism, and empirical, in studying further the factors that hinder power sharing in Lebanon.