Lebanon remains without an elected president while its people watch helplessly as their country risks further escalation with Israel and slides deeper into poverty. Average Lebanese citizens have little to no faith in the political system, which they regard as the cause of their suffering. However, the crisis goes beyond the inadequacies of Lebanon’s constitutional form of government and has more to do with the quality of the people in power today. Many critics of the system and how Lebanon has operated for the past decades—since the end of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90)—have chosen to speak up more forcefully in opposition and offer potential alternative solutions.
Former Lebanese Minister Ibrahim Hanna-el-Daher, who headed the Ministry of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR) in 2004, spoke with The National Interest about what lies at the heart of Lebanon’s failures. Regarding how most Lebanese people see politicians today, Daher said it is generally negative. This is a well-known fact. However, he also explained that many decent political people cannot fulfill their ideas and plans because of the existing hurdles in the sectarian system.
“The common view of citizens today toward the government is extremely negative. Politicians are inept, inefficient, and corrupt. This is true of many people in a........