Lebanon’s power-sharing arrangements

In order to assess the case of Lebanon and the extent to which it supports both hypotheses, it is important briefly to review power-sharing arrangements. I do this in three strands: first, the formulation of the National Pact (al-mithaq al-watani) in 1943; second, the breakdown of the Lebanese state and the civil war in 1975; third, the return to power-sharing under the Tai’f Agreement of 1989.