How Does the Past Illuminate the Present?
The tension between state and local power remains central to Middle East politics. Arab nationalism and its successor, Islamized nationalism, promote states in which despots seize power and rule through coercion. Small, often tribal, cliques operating under a cover ideology centralize government and suppress rivals. But is strongman rule the only natural and applicable model for the region? No. Royal authority and local power coexisted in balance throughout much of the Ottoman era. One example is the mutasarrifiya (governorate) system of the late nineteenth century Mount Lebanon in which an Ottoman-appointed governor presided over a council representing various groups with members elected by village notables. Modern Lebanon also provides an example of an alternative system. Its creators designed the Lebanese system to be the antithesis of the authoritarian Arab state. The Lebanese model favored a weak central state with power invested in various constituent communities. The consensual
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- How Does the Past Illuminate the Present?
