Jan 25 2011
Democracy in the News 2: Demonstrations in Lebanon
The Vancouver Sun, being one of the many news sources reporting on the recent demonstrations in Lebanon over a Hezbollah-backed prime minister-designate.
The U.S. is discontented with the news as they consider Hezbollah a terrorist group that acted with coercion, intimidation and threats of violence to bring down prime minister Saad Hariri’s government on January 12th.
Hezbollah, a militant party backed by Syria and Iran had been “pressing Hariri to disavow the [Special Tribunal for Lebanon], which it worries will implicate Hezbollah members. However, the U.S. claims that the tribunal will continue as its vital to the security and justice in Lebanon.
The coup staged by Hezbollah worries the Sunni population of Lebanon as the Shiite militant group’s dominance has increased in the already deeply divided country. A militant group who has managed to get many seats and support in parliament is plaguing Lebanon, which is considered a parliamentary democracy. If we subject Lebanese democracy to Schmitter & Karl’s conditions that make democracy possible, it would be tricky to measure the concept. The authors propose that a polity must be “self-governing; it must be able to act independently of constraints imposed by some other overarching political system”. Although Lebanon’s parliamentary system is there to keep the government in check, it seems as if Hezbollah is playing the part of an over-arching structure that could harm the government’s legitimacy.