Democracy RedefinedMichel Chiha and the Lebanese Constitution
£29.99
About this book
Presents a radically new definition of majoritarian democracy
- Redefines democracy as the effective representation of members of historically subordinate groups
- Brings together several disciplines, including history, law, political science and political philosophy in a challenge to the received view of majoritarian democracy
- Investigates Lebanese and Middle Eastern constitutionalism since the 17th century, including newly researched archives
- Provides a detailed analysis of the genesis of the Lebanese Constitution of 1926 through unprecedented access to the archives of its main drafter, Michel Chiha
- Develops a comparative and theoretical investigation of democracy in the light of the tension between its majoritarian essence and the effective representation of members of historically subordinate groups
At a time when democratic government is under attack, Chibli Mallat offers a new definition of democracy: the necessary representation in government of citizens as 'members of historically subordinate groups', a concept first opened up by Michel Chiha (1891-1954) during his drafting of the Lebanese Constitution of 1926.
The book rests on two main research pillars: the first is a detailed historical and institutional examination of Levantine and Lebanese institutions, drawing on dozens of 19th and 20th century documents, including Chiha’s constitutional papers. With unprecedented access to the Chiha Archive, Mallat constructs a world vision of Chiha through his writings and political positions which act as the background to his constitutional contributions. The second pillar examines the success and failures of an enduring Lebanese Constitution to advance this radically new view of majoritarian democracy, based on extensive research in political science and in constitutional law.
Reviews
The coverage of this book is way more than adequate; it is extraordinary. The author deftly organises a depth of historical detail into a gripping narrative with an exciting point: the evolution of communal (religious) representation to a “best practice” model in Lebanon, with pros and cons. It then offers an entirely original contribution to contemporary democratic theory: an argument for the conscious, communal representation of subordinate groups. It is rare to be taken out of one’s intellectual ruts and thrown into a new and convincing way of looking at the world. This book does that. I found it hard to put down.
The author is perhaps today’s leading theorist on democracy in the Middle East and Arab societies, having worked consistently on the problem for over 30 years. In this very erudite book, Mallat’s major contribution is to raise the Lebanese paradigm of consociational democracy to a general theoretical question about how to structure political power without a numerical majority where it must be shared by different minorities.
Table of contents
Expanded Table of Contents
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Transliteration
Abbreviations and Chiha-related Primary Sources
1. Orientation: Two Centuries of Institutional Communalism in Lebanon
Part I. Communalism and the Birth of Elections
2. The Birth of Representative Communalism - From Simqaniyya (1697) to the Beirut Consultative Council (1834)
3. The Entrenchment of Communalism and the Birth of the Electoral Principle (1840-1920)
Part II. The Lebanese Constitution of 1926
4. The Constitution of 1926: Reconstructing the Timeline
5. The Constitution of 1926: Structure and Inspiration
6. Building Constitutional Blocks: The Communitarian Straitjacket
7. Building Constitutional Blocks: Modern Constitutionalism
Part III. Chiha after the Constitution
8. Constitutional Developments
9. Chiha’s Worldview
10. Chiha’s Nation
Part IV. Constitutionalism and Group Representation
11. Lebanese Constitutionalism and the Political-Theological Middle East
12. Constitutional Frontiers: The Lebanese Constitution and the World
13. Democracy Redefined
14. Epilogue
General Bibliography
Index