Why Has Lebanon Become a Failing State?

A large body of literature already exists on Lebanon’s compounding political, economic, security crises and consequent failure to provide key basic services to its population. This situation is represented in establishment journals, research institutes, annual indexes and international media outlets. Put briefly: Lebanon’s failure is no longer due to civil war, but rather the result of “deliberate inaction” (The World Bank. 2021. “Lebanon Sinking into One of the Most Severe Global Crises Episodes, amidst Deliberate Inaction.” June 1, 2021. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/05/01/lebanon-sinking-into-one-of-the-most-severe-global-crises-episodes . Accessed May 14, 2024.). Beyond the wealth of financial and political analysis, the categorisation of Lebanon as a “failed” or “fragile” state requires a further level of exploration; that of the lived experience within the state itself. And this is ultimately the aim of this discourse study. But before proceeding with empirical descriptions, a contextual and explanatory overview here might be helpful to assist in interpreting the discourse representations of state failure illustrated in Chapters 4 , 5 and 6 .