Breaking into a Consociational System: Civic Parties in Lebanon’s 2018 Parliamentary Election

Making Representative Politics Work: Cross‐Segmental Parties in Consociations

“…There is evidence of this across consociations, corporate and liberal alike, where seats are allocated to community representatives but votes can be cast across the divide. As a result, in Bosnia-Herzegovina representatives of different community backgrounds can be elected on lists of segmental and cross-segmental parties (Pepić & Kasapović, 2023), in Lebanon voters can support candidates best suited to contest a seat allocated to a specific sect (Deets & Skulte-Ouaiss, 2020) and in Kosovo cross-ethnic voting (until recently) allowed minority parties the opportunity for a ministerial position (Hodžić, 2020). In all these cases, the literature has been overdetermined by explanations grounded in the corporate/liberal designs of the system to explain which interests will be represented and by whom: while liberal consociations acknowledge (albeit implicitly) that individuals have layered and multiple identities which can be variously important at the ballot box, corporate consociations do not (McCulloch, 2014).…”

“…Against the background of a failing Lebanese government, the elections (postponed since 2013) took place following the mobilisation of Beirut citizens in the YouStink movement in response to the refuse crisis. Despite the widely shared feeling of the inefficiency of sectarian representation to deliver solutions at the local level, Beirut Madinati won 30% of the vote, broadly in line with representatives of Shias and the majority of Christian sects in the city (Deets & Skulte-Ouaiss, 2020). This is remarkable due to concerted competition from major Maronite and Sunni parties supporting the competitor, Beirutis List.…”

“…It is these policy proposals that the electorate votes for and that are reflected in the overall legislative process by representatives elected from communal blocs, as well as across segments. Following this route has been the preference of political parties running on civic platforms, promoting intergroup equality, standing against identity‐based discrimination or calling for wider social redistributive policies, and can be seen across all consociations, both liberal and corporate, with some developing a recognisable profile with voters (Deets & Skulte‐Ouaiss, 2020; Milan, 2022; Murtagh, 2020).…”

“…But while parties foregrounding interests that do not map neatly onto major politically relevant ethnic electoral segments are not unfamiliar in most power‐sharing places, their contributions to the political process only became of interest to scholars recently. It is perhaps unsurprising that most previous work specifically on cross‐segmental political mobilisation in consociations has focused on APNI operating in liberal consociational Northern Ireland (Agarin et al., 2018; Deets & Skulte‐Ouaiss, 2020; Jarrett, 2016; D. Mitchell, 2018; Murtagh, 2020; Tonge, 2020).…”

The influence of education, economy and religion domains in enhancing ethnic unity among Malaysian youths

“…Such divisive religious education had resulted in a polarized society in which the effort to nurture the spirit of Cypriot nationalism was almost next to impossible (El-Masri, 2005). However, under the Ta'if Accord, which intended to promote cooperation and togetherness, common subjects such as language, culture and history were introduced to trigger the spirit of shared destiny (Deets and Ouaiss, 2020).…”