Roots of Lebanon’s Sectarian Politics: Colonial Legacies of the French Mandate

Judy El Baba

doi:10.22151/politikon.58.2

Authors

Judy El Baba Lebanese American University https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9920-5498

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.58.2

Keywords:

Confessionalism, French Mandate, Lebanon, Colonialism, Sectarianism, Post-colonial Politics

Abstract

This paper contends that the French Mandate significantly contributed to the institutionalisation of sectarianism in post-colonial Lebanese politics, and it investigates the Mandate’s enduring impacts on confessional governance. Building on existing research on the legacies of the Mandate and the development of sectarianism in Lebanon, the paper explores the Mandate’s roots of Lebanon’s sectarian politics. The analysis examines religious biases by the colonial administration and the National Pact of 1943. By doing so, this paper argues that the political representation in Lebanon can be traced back to sectarian connotations through religious quotas in the parliamentary system, patronage networks, and the fragmentation of Lebanese identity. This phenomenon is known as sectarianisation—a term that is used when political representatives exploit sectarian grudges within the population to acquire power. While other factors play a role in the development of sectarianisation, this paper argues that the French Mandate functions as the primary catalyst in the institutionalisation of sectarianism in Lebanon. Consequently, the central research question this paper seeks to answer is: What are the legacies of the French Mandate on the sectarianisation of post-colonial Lebanese politics?

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