Who Benefits from Consociationalism? Religious Disparities in Lebanon’s Political System
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2018, Vol 9, Issue 2
Abstract
This study examines the extent to which confessional identities in Lebanon are responsible for shaping individual views toward their government. Specifically, I investigate disparities between religious groups in their perceptions of democracy and democratic principles as applied in Lebanon. Using nationally representative data from the Arab Barometer’s survey of Lebanon, I find that when compared to Maronite Catholics, Druze, and Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims consistently give higher evaluations of the democratic condition of Lebanon. When compared to members of other religious groups, Shia Muslims are also more trusting of government institutions and perceive Lebanon to be freer. I find little evidence that the application of consociational theory equally and proportionally represents the political needs of the religious groups intended to be served. Rather, my findings reveal religious disparities in evaluations of democracy and political institutions in Lebanon, supporting critics of consociationalism who argue that consociationalism essentializes group-identity to political disputes.
Authors and Affiliations
Kenneth Vaughan
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP25919
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9020051
- Views 365
- Downloads 10
Belief in Reincarnation and Some Unresolved Questions in Catholic Eschatology
Mainstream Christianity has always rejected reincarnation teaching in all its varieties, e.g., Greco-Roman, Albigensian, Hindu, Buddhist, New Age, etc. as being incompatible with the biblical understanding of the uniqu...
“Mountains, Rivers, and the Whole Earth”: Koan Interpretations of Female Zen Practitioners
Though recent years have seen a critical reappraisal of Buddhist texts from the angle of performance and gender studies, examinations of Zen Buddhist encounter dialogues (better known under their edited form as “koan”)...
TheoArtistry, and a Contemporary Perspective on Composing Sacred Choral Music
This article presents the methodology and research underpinning the TheoArtistry Composers’ Scheme, a project based in ITIA (the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts), School of Divinity, University of St A...
On the Question at the End of Theodicy
This article argues that theodicy provides an insufficient response to suffering - one that often further victimizes those who suffering most. In it’s place, I argue for a moralist response based on Albert Camus and W....
Misión Integral and Progressive Evangelicalism: The Latin American Influence on the North American Emerging Church
Though commonly identified with the conservative politics of the Christian Right, over the past decade evangelicals in the United States have increasingly embraced a more politically progressive range of social concern...