Research & commentary

A library of ideas.

Long-form research and timely analysis on power, institutions, diplomacy, and the forces reshaping Lebanon and the wider Middle East.

02 Research publications 14 Selected articles 05 Areas of inquiry

Articles & essays

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Institutions01

Accountability with a Selective Memory

Why political accountability loses credibility when parties scrutinize today’s government while overlooking their own years of influence and responsibility.

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State-building02

Power Passes. The Homeland Remains.

A reflection on the difference between homeland, state, and political power—and why citizenship begins when no leader or party is treated as the nation itself.

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Institutions03

“I Am the State”: When Nations Are Reduced to Men

How political systems weaken when institutions recede and the fate of a nation becomes inseparable from the image of a single leader.

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Diplomacy04

“All Roads Lead to Rome”… Why Have Negotiations Become Lebanon’s Fate After the War?

A reading of why negotiation has become Lebanon’s default path after conflict—and what that reveals about sovereignty, leverage, and unresolved power.

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Regional power05

Powerful Cities… More Powerful Narratives Still: Who Governs the Middle East Today?

An exploration of how cities compete not only through capital and policy, but through the narratives that define regional legitimacy and influence.

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Infrastructure06

Out of Beirut… But Where To? Reading the Stakes of Kleyaat Airport

What a second airport could mean for balanced development, national connectivity, and the political geography of opportunity in Lebanon.

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State-building07

How the State Became an Intermediary… And How the Brokers’ Cartel Was Built

How patronage networks inserted themselves between citizens and authority, turning public rights into favors and the state into a negotiated intermediary.

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Diplomacy08

The Crisis of Decision-Making in the Middle East: Negotiations as a Substitute for Solutions

Why political success is increasingly measured by crises avoided rather than outcomes achieved—and how endless talks can become a substitute for strategy.

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State-building09

The South After the War: A Final Opportunity to Build the State?

The deeper test is not whether the state can return to southern Lebanon, but whether political actors are prepared to accept the consequences of a strong state.

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State-building10

Lebanon After the War: How Do We Break the Pattern of Fragmentation?

A direct examination of the civil-war logic that still structures Lebanese politics, despite decades of claiming to have moved beyond it.

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State-building11

The Limits of the State in Wartime: A Reading of the Lebanese Case

A study of a government confined to managing crisis, where major sovereign decisions are repeatedly absorbed by bargaining, delay, and compromise.

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Regional power12

Doha Forum: How Dialogue Became a Tool for Managing Challenges

How Qatar has developed a coherent model of multi-track diplomacy, using dialogue to connect public ideas with quieter forms of political mediation.

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Regional power13

From the Heart of the Southern Suburbs to the Region: The Repercussions After Tabatabai

A regional reading of an Iran under mounting pressure, balancing the risks of escalation across Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon against the impulse to preserve leverage.

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State-building14

Al-Sharaa and Aoun: Two Models of Power

How two presidents reached power—and how legitimacy, constitutional structure, and state capacity shape their ability to govern.

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