This afternoon at 7 pm, Casa Árabe de Madrid presents the seventh lecture of the cycle Aula Árabe Universitaria 7 by René Otayek, emeritus research director in Political Sciences of CNRS (France), entitled Lebanon: model or counter-model of political regulation of cultural pluralism. Free entry until the room is full. In Spanish and French, with simultaneous interpretation.
Lebanon is often presented as a kind of democratic exception, albeit relative, in an Arab Middle East where political authoritarianism remains the norm, despite the breath of freedom brought about by the popular uprisings of 2011. Although it has certain features of a representative liberal democracy, such as multipartism and more or less regular elections, its political system has the particularity of organizing the distribution of power among the eighteen officially recognized religious communities, according to their supposed demographic weight, and not real.
This particularity made Lebanon, for a long time, a model of coexistence and an emblematic case of the confessional theory of power (political confessionalism). However, it must be recognized that the “model” as such today seems exhausted, weakened by the tensions affecting it both internally (community polarizations, political immobility, possession of weapons by certain groups such as Hezbollah, economic and financial crises) as external (Israel-Hezbollah war, rearrangement of regional geopolitics, uncertainties in Syria, etc.).
However, although the immediate history cannot be ignored, it is only by taking into account the so-called “long historical duration” (longue durée historique) that one can understand the opposing logics operating in this «model».
Thus, in his speech, René Otayek will talk about the historical, political and social dynamics that have shaped Lebanese confessionalism, as well as its effects on pluralism, the functioning of the political system and the public life of the country.
Organized in collaboration with the Master of Intelligence Analyst and the Degree in Intelligence, Security and Diplomacy, both programs of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC). Representing the programs, will participate and present to the speaker Susana Cuena, Researcher of the Chair of Intelligence Services and Democratic Systems of the said university. The session will be moderated by Olivia Orozco, Education and Economics Coordinator at Casa Árabe.