Lebanon is currently undergoing a period where the boundaries of state authority are being severely tested. For over a decade, the political establishment has framed the presence of Syrian refugees as the primary source of instability. However, this focus has obscured a more fundamental reality: the gradual erosion of the stateโs own institutional capacity. By prioritizing the policing of a vulnerable population over the consolidation of national defense, the state has inadvertently left itself exposed to the much larger geopolitical shocks now reshaping the region.
The fundamental pillar of a stateโs legitimacy is not coercion, but its exclusive authority to uphold the rule of law and protect its borders. In Lebanon, this sovereign capacity has eroded over the last 15 years, replaced by a politics of โexploiting the crisisโ rather than managing it. As the ruling elite turns the refugee issue into an object of โsecuritizationโ to mask its own administrative failures, the country has been left defenseless against real, conventional threats.
To understand this tr
Continue Reading on Daily Sabah
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.