ABSTRACT
The successive foreign powers that occupied the country and the multitude of different religious communities that have coexisted inside Lebanon (Salibi 1993) have not only contributed to the emergence of a modern nation that enjoys very rich cultural and religious diversities, but also founded a republic governed by a fragile balance of power. It was under the umbrella of this inherent legacy of internal tensions, and the almost ‘natural’ dependency of the Lebanese Government on foreign powers, that the independence of Lebanon was declared in 1943 (Salibi 1965, 1993).
