It’s hard to imagine now, but for many years, Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, was known as the “Paris of the Middle East.” Living along the shores of the Mediterranean, the crossroad of cultures, its people had long felt the influence of many worlds. The city was cosmopolitan and sophisticated, enjoying a blend of cultures, cuisines and languages of the postcolonial Levant. Above all, it was peaceful.
Then it all came crashing down.
Today, and already for decades, Lebanon has become the battleground for other people’s wars. It is the quintessential case study for the importance of a strong central government and the cost of not having one. There’s no better example of why a state will fail if armed militias are allowed to grow stronger than the national army, a violation of Max Weber’s dictum that in a functioning country, the state alone should hold the monopoly on the legitimate use of violence, as he starkly phrased it.