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Fixing the Economy and Public Service Provision in Lebanon

Cover of Fixing the Economy and Public Service Provision in Lebanon
December 2021
Stockholm
SIPRI

The limited accountability and weak institutions of Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system have had a severe impact on the country’s economy and the state’s ability to provide basic public services. Protesters have repeatedly voiced discontent with a political system that facilitates corruption and allows self-serving political and sectarian elites to capture public resources and escape accountability. Many have called for the sectarian power-sharing system to be transcended.

Although a comprehensive reform of the political system remains a remote prospect, there is an urgent need to address the grievances of Lebanese people within the system. Based on interviews with current and former government-level officials and experts in Lebanon, this policy brief presents recommendations on what can be done within the existing system to fix the economy and public service provision.

Table of contents

The governance system in Lebanon

Unprecedented economic collapse

Failing public services

Recommendations

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)/EDITORS

Amal Bourhrous is an Associate Researcher, attached to the SIPRI Conflict, Peace and Security research area, and specifically to the SIPRI Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Programme.