Qifa Nabki
Lebanese senate
Could the Orthodox Law Be a Boon for Lebanon’s Liberals?
The electoral law being championed by Lebanon’s Christian parties — also known as the Ferzli law, the Orthodox law, the Orthodox-Maronite Gathering law, or as we like to call it here at Qifa Nabki, the “OMG law” — is the most backward, sectarian, reactionary, bloody-minded proposal to come out of a legislative committee in a very … Continue reading
Establishing a Lebanese Senate: Bicameralism and the Third Republic
My working paper for Stanford University’s Program on Arab Reform and Democracy has just been published. Those who have been following this blog for a while know that bicameralism is a longstanding interest of mine, and I’m grateful to Lina Khatib for giving me the opportunity to spend some time fleshing out my ideas in … Continue reading
The Turnstile Executive
Michael Young’s op-ed over at the Daily Star makes sense on the following point, I find: But right after shattering the jar of complacency on Hizbullah, Sfeir was asked about the abolition of political confessionalism. And here the patriarch fell back into a disposition that showed why, for all his qualities, he is no innovator. … Continue reading
Abolishing Political Sectarianism in Lebanon
The topic de jour these days in Beirut, in case you haven’t heard, is abolishing political sectarianism. The Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, has lent his full-throated support to President Sleiman’s call to establish a commission to study the ways and means to do away with Lebanon’s dysfunctional system, and various other politicians have chimed … 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
And the people say…