The Lebanese Experiment
23rd January 2024
Americans wondering about the future of a society that centers diversity as a core value should look at Lebanon, the 4,000 square mile eastern Mediterranean nation that just celebrated 80 years of equity as an official policy and the foundation of the state. Since 1943, Lebanon has found neither strength, unity, stability, cooperation, nor prosperity through its diversity and equity. Eighty years of history demonstrate that a continued adherence to the principle of diversity only exacerbates divides, produces political gridlock, paralyzes policy, suspends justice, breeds impunity, erodes and incapacitates state functions, and facilitates violence.
The recognition of 18 diverse religious identities and an attempt to maintain a sense of equity among them has become ingrained in the DNA of Lebanon’s government and society. The Lebanese constitution institutionalized the recognition of multiple identities and proportional representation. The different Muslim and Christian communities must be represented in Parliament with representation proportional to their population. Parliamentary seats are equally divided between Christians and Muslims. Diversity and equity extend to the allocation of top government positions (e.g., the president and the prime minister), the orientation of foreign policy, and bureaucratic appointments. Each religious community dictates the laws governing the marriage and divorce of its adherents.
The institutionalization of multiple identities and equity have produced dangerous and destructive behaviors; the relentless maintenance of diversity and equity underlies much of Lebanon’s travails.
Diversity is not a ‘strength’; diversity is always and everywhere a WEAKNESS, and a serious one.