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September 01, 2020 | 10 Pages | English | Sami Atallah, Mounir Mahmalat and Sami Zoughaib
Hiding Behind Disaster: How International Aid Risks Helping Elites, Not Citizens

Beirut’s explosion testifies the fundamental failure of Lebanon’s political settlement to provide effective governance. After decades of overappropriation of resources to maintain extensive clientelist networks, Lebanon’s system of sectarian governance not only fails to deliver services to its people. The explosion is just the latest example of how it endangers their lives. With hyperinflation and hunger looming, the magnitude of present-days’ multiple crises requires immediate and decisive political action from a political elite that proved both unwilling and incapable of renewing the way it governs the country.
 
The August 4 disaster shook both the city and Lebanon’s political landscape. By triggering the resignation of the government under Prime Minister (PM) Hassan Diab, it facilitated a realignment in the distribution of political power. The nomination of Prime Minister designate Mustafa Adib, reportedly close to major sectarian leaders and the banking sector—most notably Najib Mikati and Nabih Berri—marks the return of traditional elites to de jure political power.








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