The Causes, Nature and Effect of the Current Crisis of Lebanese Capitalism

Forty years ago, Nasr identified a “crisis of Lebanese capitalism” as a “backdrop” to the country’s civil war. Thirty years after Ta’if, Lebanese capitalism is facing another crisis: public debt, looming currency crisis, failing public services. Explanations that focus solely on the sectarian “weak state” or on Syrian refugees neglect the crucial importance of Lebanon’s dependence on Gulf rentierism. Using recent studies of income and poverty, I show how post-war capitalism benefited rentier capitalists at the top, created a precarious middle class, and perpetuated poverty. Economic protests mobilize the precarious middle and they revolve around failing public services