Governance: “The difficulty in reaching consensus in Lebanon is primarily due to a system of political governance that protects vested economic interests, leaving large constraints to Lebanon’s economic development unaddressed (Country Partnership Strategy 2016, 4). This also masks “elite capture” and corruption which is undermined by submission to the confessional system (Country Partnership Strategy 2016, 11). Under governance, the World Bank’s Systematic Country Diagnostic identified the following constraints:
- lack of political will, capacity and institutions to design and enact new laws and policies and to implement reforms,
- a lack of vision for Lebanon and leadership for the country, and
- public institutions that are perceived as extremely weak, inefficient and possessing low capacity to provide high quality services, which is particularly damaging to vulnerable and less well-off citizens.
Conflict: Conflict is a byproduct of Lebanon’s physical location in a volatile region as well as security and fragility due to the development concerns amplified by years of conflict. Its divisiveness and weak government further exacerbate the issue. The World Bank highlights eleven constraints to the Development Agenda but it nests 9 into governance and conflict stating that “absent the destabilizing impact of confessionalism and domestic and regional conflicts, these nested constraints would be significantly less binding than they currently are” (Country Partnership Strategy 2016, 11). The 9 constraints are related to
- governance
- informational and communication
- technology
- energy
- transport
- water
- environment
- education
- macroeconomics and the fiscal environment
- business climate
Data: “The head of the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, Oussama Safa, expressed doubts that any government agency will ever conduct a labor market survey based on new data collected from households across the country. In the words of a former minister of labor: “We can’t do any statistics on Lebanon, because any statistics you do will show the sectarian makeup of the country and how the salary is divided among the sects” (Raphaeli 2009, 111). This undermines any recognition of development concerns being a “foundational constraint” (Country Partership Stretegy 2016, 11).
Citations
COUNTRY PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR THE LEBANESE REPUBLIC (Rep. No. 94768-LB). (2016, June 8). Retrieved February 19, 2018, from The World Bank Group website: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/24678
Raphaeli, “Lebanese Economy Between Violence and Political Stalemate”, Chapter in Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis, edited by Rubin, Barry, Palgrave Macmillan: New York, 2009