Lebanon

Country Profile: Lebanon

Executive Summary

It was not until the summer of 2005 that Lebanon held elections that were free from interference from foreign enterprises. This is indicative of a larger picture that paints the state as deeply embedded in the complicated web of affairs amongst the Middle East. The current government under billionaire Prime Minister Najib Miqati faces immense challenges with not only quelling turmoil created by the numerous terror organizations operating within the state, but also with skyrocketing tensions with hostile neighbors in the region.

Brief History

Lebanon was formerly within the Ottoman Empire province of Syria. After the First World War, France acquired a mandate over the northern portion of this region, and geopolitically separated out Lebanon in 1920. After just over two decades, Lebanon was granted full independence in 1943. Although the state was ravaged by a substantial civil war from 1975-1990, Lebanon has made drastic strides to recover from this devastation, especially focusing on rebuilding its political institutions. The Lebanese blueprint for reconciliation, the Ta'if Accord, established a more equitable political system, particularly by giving Muslims a greater voice in the political process while institutionalizing sectarian divisions in the government. Since the end of the war, Lebanon has conducted several successful elections. However, the past decade has been marred by foreign intervention in the state’s affairs, particularly by neighboring Syria.

Political Structure

Political Parties: Democratic Left, Democratic Renewal Movement, Future Movement Bloc, Kataeb Party, Lebanese Forces, Tripoli Independent Bloc, Development and Resistance Bloc, leader of Amal Movement, Free Patriotic Movement, Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc (includes Hizballah), Nasserite Popular Movement, Popular Bloc, Syrian Ba'th Party, Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Tashnaq, Democratic Gathering Bloc, Metn Bloc

Political System: Lebanon is a republic that has a unicameral legislature known as the National Assembly. Members of this body are elected by popular vote on the basis of sectarian proportional representation to serve four-year terms. The President, Michel Sulayman, acts as the chief of state, while the Prime Minister, Najib Miqati, is the head of government.

Political Conflicts: In concurrence with other civilian uprisings against dictatorships throughout the Arab world that began in late 2010, marches and demonstrations in Lebanon were directed instead against sectarian politics. Although the protests gained some traction, they were limited in size and unsuccessful in changing the system.

Economic Structure

Economic System: Lebanon has a free-market economy and a strong laissez-faire commercial tradition. The Lebanese economy is service-oriented, and its main growth sectors include banking and tourism. Financial fallout from the Lebanese civil war caused the government to borrow massive sums from domestic banks to repair its infrastructure, placing the state in a debt it has not fully repaid to this day.

Economic Trends: The collapse of the government in early 2011 over its backing of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and unrest in neighboring Syria slowed economic growth to the 1-2% range in 2011-12, after four years of 8% average growth. In September 2011 the Cabinet endorsed a bill that would provide $1.2 billion in funding to improve Lebanon's downtrodden electricity sector, but fiscal limitations will test the government's ability to invest in other areas, such as water.

Economic Resources: Major industries include banking, tourism, food processing, wine, jewelry, cement, textiles, mineral and chemical products, wood and furniture products, oil refining, and metal fabricating. Exports include jewelry, base metals, chemicals, miscellaneous consumer goods, fruit and vegetables, tobacco, construction minerals, electric power machinery and switchgear, textile fibers, and paper.

Social Structure

Religion:

Muslim: 1,961,196 adherents (59.76% of population)
Christian: 1,047,875 adherents (31.93% of population)
Druze: 229,725 adherents (7% of population)
Non-Religious/other: 42,663 adherents (1.30% of population)
Jewish: 328 adherents (0.01% of population)

Churches:

Maronite Patriarchate (370,130 members)
Greek Orthodox (89,385 members)
Armenian Apostolic (67,039 members)
Melchite Catholic Patriarch (61,622 members)
Armenian Catholic Patriarch (5,587 members)
Latin-rite Catholic (5,587 members)
Syrian Orthodox (5,389 members)
Chaldean Catholic (5,028 members)
Syrian Catholic Patriarchale (5,028 members)
Jehovah’s Witnesses (3,529 members)
Church of the East (2,571 members)
Baptist Convention (1,300 members)
National Evangelist Union (1,800 members)
Church of God (Anderson) (1,300 members)
Union of Evangelsit Armenian (1,000 members)
National Evangelist Synod (Presb) (1,000 members)
Seventh-day Adventist (472 members)
National Evangelical Christ Alliance (329 members)
Christian Brethren (350 members)
Assemblies of God (180 members)
Other denominations (4,600 members)

Ethnicity:

Arab 95%
Armenian 4%
Other 1%
Note: many Christian Lebanese do not identify themselves as Arab but rather as descendents of the ancient Canaanites and prefer to be called Phoenicians

Gender:

Overall male population: 2,028,869 (49.0%)
Overall female population: 2,111,420 (51.0%)
0-14 years: 22.5% (male 477,647/female 455,008)
15-24 years: 18% (male 379,340/female 364,200)
25-54 years: 41.9% (male 836,126/female 900,600)
55-64 years: 8.4% (male 159,909/female 186,446)
65 years and over: 9.2% (male 175,847/female 205,166) (2012 est.)

Urbanization:

Urban population: 87% of total population (2010)
Rate of urbanization: 0.9% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
Children under the age of 5 underweight: 4.2% (2004)

Operating Organizations

Political Groups:

Maronite Church
Other: note - most sects retain militias and a number of militant groups operate in Palestinian refugee camps

Terrorist:

While there are many terror groups operating in the state, the particularly large security threats stem from Hezbollah, Fatah al-Islam, al-Jihad, Asbat al-ansar, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Abu Nidal Organization.

Allies and Enemies

Regional Allies: Iran
Regional Enemies: Syria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel
Global Allies: United States, France
Global Enemies: N/A

Country Trajectory

Lebanon will have to continue to engage in high level intelligence dialogues with Western governments and reevaluate the organization and priorities of its own government if it is to successfully combat its emerging conflict with Syria. Loyalists to Syrian president President Bashar al-Assad will not cease until the state ends its policy of offering a safe haven to Syrian refugees. The Syrian airstrike (occurring March 18th, 2013) on Lebanese soil is a serious development that caused warranted alarm among Lebanese government officials. While there were no reports of injuries, this attack is a significant escalation of violence in comparison to the past several years, and nothing short of a reason to orchestrate a swift and and tactful response.

Current Events

Mar. 18th, 2013: The Lebanese Army said four Israeli warplanes penetrated the country’s airspace and flew over several areas of the country in blatant violation of a UN Security Council resolution. Lebanon's government, the Hezbollah resistance movement, and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, have repeatedly condemned the overflights, saying they are in clear violation of UN Resolution 1701 and the country's sovereignty.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/03/18/294289/israeli-jets-fire-flare-bombs-over-lebanon/

Mar. 19th, 2013: Syrian air force jets fired four rockets at a remote section of the border with Lebanon on Monday, security sources said, four days after Damascus warned it may strike at Syrian rebels taking refuge across the frontier. An estimated 15,000 Syrians are taking refuge in Lebanese border town of Arsal and many locals oppose the Assad regime.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/03/201331914252279655.html

Sources