The Lebanon crisis from international political economy perspective

Abstract

For the past four decades now, Lebanon has experienced several upheavals in its political and economic dispensation which has had significant adverse effects on the lives of people. Currently, the World Bank mentions that it is facing a much worst situation since the end of its Civil war. The issue of the Lebanon crisis has caught the eyes of international political actors because of its dire consequences and momentum. This crisis is a consequence of the years of mismanagement of the state's economy, political differences, sectarian challenges etc. The life of the people living in Lebanon is a testament to the impact of this crisis. Due to its historic precedence, Lebanon has been entangled with diverse state actors as well as non-state actors such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Hezbollah. The paper, through an international political economy—IPE being the interaction between politics and economy in the international space—looks at how the crisis is affecting and being affected. This kind of inquiry is significant because the crisis is mostly looked at from domestic and internal causes. The paper makes plain the bidirectional relationship between IPE and the crisis, that is, the effect of the crisis on IPE and the effect of IPE on the crisis.