Consociational Power‐Sharing in the Arab World as Counter‐Revolution

Abstract

This paper argues that consociational power-sharing in the Arab world is intrinsically counter-revolutionary. The academic debate on consociational power-sharing has largely overlooked this because 1) it presupposes class inequalities and overemphasizes state stability; and 2) it is limited by a broader misunderstanding of counter-revolution, in which the concept is reduced to momentary reactions to revolution. By critiquing class and state assumptions in the consociational power-sharing literature and presenting a nuanced conceptualization of counter-revolution, this paper seeks to bring the debate closer to the concurrent revolutionary episodes against the consociational arrangements of Lebanon and Iraq, and to inspire more inclusionary state-(re)building arrangements in the Arab world. * Ibrahim Halawi is a Teaching Fellow in International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London. His research focuses on theorizing the concept of counter-revolution and examining its manifestation in the contemporary Middle East. His doctoral thesis lays out a history of counter-revolution and revolution in Egypt not as separable, televised events, but as processes that are continuous, evolving, and interrelated. During the pursuit of his PhD, Ibrahim worked as an Opinion Editor for The New Arab and published several op-eds and book reviews with E-IR, OpenDemocracy, and Middle East Eye, among others. Prior to that, he co-founded a pluralistic student movement in Beirut. He also founded a student-led non-sectarian newspaper aimed at de-hegemonizing sectarian news.

Radical Secularism and Worldview Dilemmas in Countering Sectarianism in Lebanon

“…The second study asked why so many people abandoned the demonstrations after a single month and prior to the outbreak of COVID‐19 in Lebanon. There were many factors at play, such as the authorities' use of violence and intimidation, violence initiated by the regime's thugs, and the fact that many disillusioned opposition members were already leaving Lebanon (Halawi 2020; Nagle 2020). Another factor that surfaced in the study was a concern for one's community.…”

“…While this system was put in place to create a balance between Lebanon's different communities and religious sects, many scholars argue that it has led to sectarianism, conflict, and a fragile balance of power between the political elites recruited from the confessional communities. This has led to political paralysis that prevents the enactment of necessary political and economic reforms for the benefit of the Lebanese people (Halawi 2020; Nagle 2020).…”

Power‐Sharing in Deeply Divided Societies: Consociationalism and Sectarian Authoritarianism

“…Yet the ‘New Generation’ of consociationalists, including Allison McCulloch and John Nagle, claim to support the revolutionary struggle against the sectarian ruling elites of Lebanon and Iraq (McCulloch 2014; but contrast Nagle and Clancy 2012 with Nagle 2020 in this issue and the critique of Nagle and Clancy in Dixon 2011). This is puzzling, because it is consociationalism’s radical critics, the ‘Cosmopolitans’ (or ‘Transformationalists’), who have opposed consociationalism precisely because of its justification of sectarian authoritarianism and disdain for non‐sectarianism and popular struggles (Dixon 1997; Taylor 2009; see Halawi 2020 in this issue).…”

Consociationalism is Dead! Long Live Zombie Power‐Sharing!

“…Overextending Peck’s metaphor helps us think of its appositeness for illuminating the current state of consociationalism. As Paul Dixon's (2020) and Ibrahim Halawi’s (2020) contributions to this special feature suggest, consociational institutions in many places have long since ceased functioning in a way that is healthy for the body politic, yet somehow consociationalism remains dominant both for policy prescription and in academic thinking. In Northern Ireland, power‐sharing has only recently been restored after being in abeyance for three years, with the crisis of Brexit providing the most recent excuse for the state of exception to be applied (Nagle 2018a).…”