Qifa Nabki
Reform
Citizen Zero
As things have been too slow in Lebanon to warrant serious commentary and too depressing to warrant satire, I’d like to direct your attention to one of the best publications on Lebanese affairs, The Monthly. It’s published in English and Arabic by Information International, a research and consultancy firm based in Beirut and headed by … Continue reading
The Constitutional Backdrop to Lebanon’s Cabinet Deadlock
We hear a lot of rhetoric these days from FPM leaders about Saad al-Hariri’s arrogant unilateralism in his cabinet-formation dealings, a unilateralism that they say violates the constitutional principle of “communal coexistence” (Preamble, clause j). Accompanying this argument is the occasional complaint about the Ta’if Accord, which (so the Aounists say) stripped the Maronite President … Continue reading
Daily Star: Lebanon’s Political Woes Are a National Pain in the Ass
This Daily Star editorial means well, it really does. But who could resist pointing out the little Freudian slip… “The only long-term solution to Lebanon’s perineal political woes is to completely overhaul the system. That means drafting a new electoral law that provides a basis for genuine representation in the government and creating mechanisms for … Continue reading
A Reality TV Show Proposal: “Repair Lebanon”
Hendrik Hertzberg, writing in last week’s New Yorker, describes a fascinating new populist initiative called Repair California, which aims to solve that state’s governance problems (legislative gridlock, huge budget deficits, bureaucratic inefficiencies) through a citizen-sponsored constitutional convention. Here are the salient bits of the article: “California, it turns out, is ungovernable. Its public schools, once … Continue reading
Bicameralism Issues I: Would a Senate Only Serve to Entrench Confessionalism?
Due to considerations of length and format, my article about Lebanese bicameralism for The National was limited to making the simple case that establishing a senate would be better than not establishing a senate. As we’ve seen from the ensuing discussion, many different objections to this argument can and should be raised. What I’d like … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…