Qifa Nabki
Lebanon
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
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
Lebanon: Federal or Unitary Republic?
One of my readers, EJ, made a great intervention in the comment section of the last post, in response to a remark I made about Lebanon being a unitary republic, not a federal one. As the semester is looming over my head along with several writing deadlines, I thought I’d crowd-source today’s post to the … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…