Since October 2019, a popular uprising has shaken Lebanon. If this is the announcement of a tax on communications by WhatsApp who started the movement, this popular protest actually has deeper origins.
Among the demands of the demonstrators: the end of confessionalism, in place in the country for almost a century. This political system, unique in the world, establishes an equal distribution of powers between the religious communities present in the country. Originally, it was set up to respond to the great peculiarity of Lebanon: its very fragmented denominational demography. But today the regime is singled out. He is said to be partly responsible for Lebanon’s political stagnation and therefore for the country’s economic and social crisis, amplified by the absence of reforms.
Sources:
Details on the 1932 census: https://www.cairn.info/revue-outre-terre1-2005-4-page-419.htm
Figures on the arrival of Palestinians in Lebanon: https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers09-03/010024996.pdf
Poverty figures in Lebanon: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/279901468191356701/pdf/102819-REVISED-PUBLIC-Snapshot-of-Poverty-and-Labor-Market-in-Lebanon-10. pdf
The economic situation of Lebanon (especially on electricity): http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Arab-World-Competitiveness-Report-2018/WEF_GCI_2017_2018_Profile_Lebanon.pdf
Details on water management in Lebanon: https://www.gwp.org/globalassets/global/gwp-governance-microsite/materials-and-resources/lebanon-report-fr—final.pdf
