Over the past two years, Lebanon has moved fr om a condition of civil a nd proxy war to one of relative peace a nd stability. This was made possible by the negotiation of a comprehensive agreement among Lebanese Parliamentarians in the Fall of 1989 a nd strong Arab international suppo r t fo r ending the war. Today the militias have been disba nded, there is a broad-ba sed government in power, a nd the process of laying the foundations fo r stability a nd development has begun.

In light of this, the United States Agency fo r International Development (USAID) sponso r ed a study to reexamine developmental problems in Lebanon within its Governance a nd Democracy Program (GPD). The study was conducted by America Mideast Educational a nd Training Services (AMIDEAST) in cooperation with the Lebanese Center fo r Policy Studies (LCPS). In acco r dance with the GPD program's general framewo r k, the study laid special emphasis on sovial a nd political institution-building. However, the study approaches Lebanon's current developmental needs fr om a broad perspective, a nd it was felt that the present assessment would be of interest to a broad spectrum of dono r countries a nd agencies.

The paper begins with background analysis of the Lebanese polity a nd economy. It stresses both the problems a nd promise held out by Lebanon's political past a nd underlines the steady private secto r growth sustained by the economy until the war in 1975. This is followed by an outline strategy fo r fo r eign assistance leading into the four main secto r assessments that are at the center of this study: Public Aministration, Representative Institutions, the Judiciary, a nd the Media. Assistance to the various secto r s are prio r itized in terms of urgency a nd impo r tance, with the needs of the Public Administration placed at center stage.

In the outline strategy it is made clear that the main objective of fo r eign assistance to Lebanon should be to rapidly increase the capacity of the state to govern in o r der to enable it to keep the fragile peace that has been established a nd provide the security a nd legal framewo r k fo r broad-ba sed a nd sustainable socio-economic development. The repo r t is baesd on interviews, field surveys, a nd data analysis, a nd on the imput of key political a nd economic consultants. It was conducted between December 1991 a nd February 1992. أقرأ أقل