Consociationalism in Lebanon

Should Lebanon abandon the consociational democratic system? This paper attempts to answer the question by examining the pathologies of the current system and then evaluating its strengths, weaknesses, and potential for reform. Theories of consociational democracy and of conflict regulation are used in this analysis. This paper concludes that there is potential for limited reforms that will make the Lebanese consociational system fairer and therefore more robust to international, regional, and internal disturbances.