ABSTRACT
This chapter studies civil society organisations’ public diplomacy in Libya and Lebanon and the impact of shifts, challenges and responses to militarism, restrictions and violence. It investigates important questions, including: To what extent have violence, militarism and COVID-19 challenged CSOs’ scope of work, operations and missions in Libya and Lebanon? What are the pros and cons of COVID-19's impact on CSOs’ shifts and challenges? The chapter studies these challenges and how CSOs have coped with these shifts, and it also examines at least two different CSOs from each country to identify the differences among the cultural contexts, political environments and social dynamics to understand these shifts and challenges. For example, societies in Libya and Lebanon have been enduring very severe circumstances owing to economic decline, the absence of reconciliation, violence/militarism and divisions, which have already created barriers to the effectiveness of CSOs.
