This brief examines the politics of social protection amid ongoing financial crisis in Lebanon. It finds that Lebanon’s political settlement remains characterised by sectarian-clientelism and fractured sub-state loyalties, and that a fractured formal social protection system exists alongside longstanding traditions of political party-led social assistance. It argues that Lebanon’s new National Social Protection Strategy provides a rare opportunity to foster a new social contract that is inclusive and rights-based.
Read the accompanying Working Paper: The Politics of Social Assistance in Lebanon: Social Protection, Sectarianism, and Lebanon’s Fragmented Social Contract.