Open AccessWarlord Politics and Economic Clientelism in Lebanon
Author(s) -
Sebastian Ille,
Dina MansourIlle
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the economics of peace and security journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.181
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1749-852X
DOI - 10.15355/epsj.16.1.28
Subject(s) - clientelism , politics , cabinet (room) , recession , unemployment , incentive , political science , political economy , development economics , economics , economic policy , government (linguistics) , financial crisis , economic growth , market economy , democracy , keynesian economics , geography , law , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology
Since October 2019, Lebanon has been going through a deep economic and financial crisis that drove the country to a political meltdown. Facing a severe recession, high inflation and unemployment, nationwide protests in the aftermath of the Beirut explosion in August 2020 have led to the resignation of Hassan Diab’s cabinet – the second government to resign within the span of a few months. This article studies the interplay of the political, economic, and social factors that led to the current economic and political crisis. We show how warlord politics, and a corporate consociational system have misguided incentives and policies and consolidated a rentier economy that inevitably led to the current situation.