Lebanon

Progress towards the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda

Country

Lebanon

Status

Submitted

Year

2022

Focal Point

Mr. Ibrahim Chahrour

Head of Planning Department, Council for Development and Reconstruction under Presidency of Cabinet of Ministers

National Report 2022

Lebanon public institutions are part of what is called the Lebanese State, a unitary parliamentarian republic form of government. However, it is also ruled by a set of informal understandings between dominant communitarian political factions under what some researchers call a consociationalist regime. This brings a layer of informal rules of government that are politically recognized but also continuously contested in the everyday life of public institutions. Different political factions dominating different ministries tend to develop sectorial policies and strategies with little concern for inter-sectorial governmental coordination. At time of writing this report, the cumulative effects of the "economic meltdown" crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the Beirut port blast on August 4, 2020 catastrophe have driven more people into poverty, vulnerability and harm's way. Moreover, beyond the growing scope of the demand, these crises raise new types of threats that require different expertise to address. Additionally, these crises that – for now - seem lasting erupted in a moment of deep political crisis at the regional geopolitical and national levels. More directly related to government engagement, these crises have considerably weakened the Lebanese Government legitimacy.

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