Post-war Lebanese communities in search of reconciliation

Fifteen years after the adoption of the Taif agreement, the restoration and strengthening of political communalism has failed to bestow a consensual foundation in Lebanon. The national life remains hampered by religious and sectarian divisions. Such a conclusion calls for a critical reappraisal of consociational democracy, a political system adopted by Lebanon since the birth of the state, and favoured in other countries characterised by religious pluralism such as Bosnia (in 1994), and tomorrow Iraq and Sudan. It also draws attention of analysts and policymakers toward the kind of institutional and practical responses to offer to popular demands in the wake of domestic conflicts expressed in terms of religious identities. Namely, the urgent need of recognition, rule of law, and security