Qifa Nabki
Qifa Nabki
Exploring the Implications of a Single National District
Last week, Hizbullah chief Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah announced his party’s support for an electoral law based on a single national district. In the past, the main champion of this idea has been Speaker Nabih Berri, but there has never been an occasion to take the possibility seriously since Lebanon’s electoral laws have generally not departed … Continue reading
Digital Humanities and Islamic & Middle East Studies
I try not to mix business and pleasure too often, but this conference that I’m organizing next semester at Brown University may be of interest to some folks. See below for our call to papers, and please feel free to publicize it widely. The website for the conference (still in development) is islamichumanities.org. ** The … Continue reading
Highly Unorthodox: The Week Lebanon Went Secular (And Ended Up More Sectarian Than Ever…)
When some future historian writes a chronicle of 21st-century Lebanon, she will likely devote a bemused footnote to the odd events of February 2013, when the country’s leaders saw fit to tear down a pillar of the confessional regime one week, only to erect another one a week later. On February 11, the Justice Ministry … Continue reading
What to Read on Lebanon’s Proposed 2013 Electoral Law
More in-depth remarks and commentary to follow, but for now I thought I’d put up a post containing links to some of the most relevant analysis of Lebanon’s Orthodox Gathering law, which has been passed by legislative committees and is headed to Parliament for a vote. See below: The OMG Proposal: Proportional Representation Meets Sectarian … Continue reading
Will Civil Marriage End Confessionalism in Lebanon?
I’ve written an essay for Jadaliyya that explores the long-term political implications of implementing civil marriage in Lebanon. As it currently stands, the wedding between Nidal Darwish and Khulud Sukkariyyeh has been rejected by the Lebanese government, even though the civil society organization that orchestrated the marriage had allegedly received assurances in the past from … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…