State-Civil Society in developing country: the case of Lebanon

The relationship state-civil society (CS) in Lebanon developed and changed with the different political and economic development of the state. The Ottoman Empire rule on Lebanon, the State‘s independence, the civil war,... [ view full abstract ]

The relationship state-civil society (CS) in Lebanon developed and changed with the different political and economic development of the state. The Ottoman Empire rule on Lebanon, the State‘s independence, the civil war, Syrian tutelage and the 2006 events have all had a direct effect on changing role of this Society. All of these events had either a positive effect in strengthening civil society or a negative effect by weakening it. When it comes to legal issues, civil society in Lebanon is considered to be governed by the most liberal law in the Arab world; however these laws are vague in a way that it allowed the state to arbitrarily intervene in many instances in the governance and functioning of these organizations.
This paper will analyse the relationship state-civil society and will answer the following questions: How can we define the relationship between Civil Society and the Lebanese State? What role did this civil society play in pre, during and post civil war and conflict? To what extent are the laws governing this society hindering or allowing it to develop?
The main aim of this paper is to better understand the relationship between these two sectors and to analyse in the different ways that this interaction would provide efficient results to issues and problems in the society. Understanding this relationship will also help us to better understand issues of democracy, citizenship and values. (Brinkerhoff 2002) The main assumption of this paper is that the relationship of this society with the state varied based on the governing legal laws and frameworks; and that specific types of civil society developed based with the cultural, political and historical changes of the state.
Many studies on Civil Society organizations (CSO) argue that these are often linked more to the state than to society (Marchetti et Al, 2000). To better understand the state-civil society relationship it is important to base it on a theoretical framework of analysis. The Debates about the relationship that develops between the state and civil society have long filled the literature (Young 2000;Najam 1997; Salamon &Ainheir 2000). While in the 1980s, policy makers’ major understanding of State- CS relationship was unidimensional (CSOs viewed as service providers organizations functioning based on volunteers) (Salamon & al 2000; Bremner 1988; Salamon 1995); recently many theories were developed argued that this relationship is more complex. In this regards, three different lines of literature are presented to better understand the relationship: the first one evolved from the economic theory and argues that the growth of the sector is based on the government failure: the sector acts as supplement to the government filling the needs left by the government. (Salamon, 1987; Young 2000a; Hansmann 1987; Grinbjerg 1993). Dennis Young further developed this theory; and argued that this relationship can be of supplementary, complementary or adversary nature. The second school of thought is the interdependence theory. (Salamon et Al, 2000) this theory argues for more cooperation between the two sectors. A third theory was developed by Salamon and Einheir in2000 and labelled the social origin theory; this theory argues that to better understand State-CS relationship we should take into consideration the nature of the state.
Based on the theories that study the relationship between state and civil society in both developed and developing state this paper will trace the historical development of the relationship that developed between the state and civil society in Lebanon from post independence to the present.
This paper will be divided into 4 different parts
Part I provides a brief history of the creation of the state of Lebanon
Part II will review the literature that covers the role of civil society in developing countries
Part III will analyse the relationship state civil society in Lebanon through providing a historical analysis of this relationship
Part IV will discuss the role and importance of reforming laws in order to allow civil society to properly function in the state of Lebanon.