Restoring Lebanon

Lebanon is a Middle Eastern country that has been inhabited for more than six thousand years, and today it has a population of four million with over eighteen different religious sects, many of which are Muslim or Christian. The country, however, is in an incessant struggle to institutionalize democracy in its most humane form, whereby everyone is included and democracy is neither the rule of the majority nor a political lobbying arena. Yet how can the people of Lebanon realize their vision of democracy in the face of religious sectarianism and the political system of confessionalism? In Restoring Lebanon, author, economist, and political theorist Nizar Y. Younes explores the problems inherent to the confessional system of governmenta form of government where every religious community secures some portion of the stateand argues instead how this partitioning of government practically results in the disintegration of the state and eradicates any notion of citizenship. In addition to digging further into the root of the barriers to institutionalism and development in Lebanon, Restoring Lebanon offers a roadmap for reform at the political, economic, and cultural levelsa reform geared toward creating a Lebanon that meets the aspirations of the Lebanese people. Lebanon needs a fair, clear social contractone that frees the Lebanese from the prison of sectarian confessionalism. A contract by the Lebanese and for the Lebanese can create the country we deserveone that represents Lebanons spirit, culture, and freedom.

Nizar Y. Younes is the author of five books on Lebanese politics. With a profound exposure to Lebanons socioeconomic structure and its main players, he is both a dreamer and an actor deeply involved in Lebanons everyday life concerns and activities. Nizar is also an economist, engineer, entrepreneur, political activist, and agriculturalist, and he is focused on democracy, development, and liberty in Lebanon.