ABSTRACT
For Lebanon to be peaceful, its government and political class would have to achieve two things: transcend politics based on religious difference, and steer the country away from the dangers posed by its geographic location next to Syria and Israel. Lebanon's diverse population includes Shi'a and Sunni Muslims, the two main Islamic groups worldwide, as well as Druze, and Christians of various denominations, among which the largest group are the Maronites. By the 1960s most Muslims and many observers believed demographic shifts meant the Maronites were now in a minority. The unity and pragmatism inspired by imminent independence in the 1940s were long gone. Lebanon's constitution was adopted at French behest in 1926 when the country was administered by France under the League of Nations Mandate. When Lebanon gained independence in 1943, an unwritten National Pact used the 1932 population census to assign parliamentary seats in a six to five ratio in favour of the Christians.
