The Lebanese National Movement (LNM) political reform program : an assessment.

Abstract

The Lebanese National Movement (LNM) has been a key player in Lebanese politics, especially during the 1970s. Its power reached its climax in 1975- 1976 when it controlled almost 80 percent of Lebanese territories. It aimed to introduce reform to the confessional political system through the National Reform Plan that it announced in August 1975. The aim of this thesis is to assess the program in detail, how it affected the course of events, how the assassination of LNM’s leader, Kamal Joumblatt, in 1977 was detrimental and how his heir, WalidJoumblatt has turned the course of events in light of geopolitical developments and changes. It is also compared to the Taif Accord of 1989 that put an end to war with analysis of the regional and international contexts between the two plans and one was doomed to fail and the other succeeded. To this end, the research question was as follows: Why did the LNM Reform Plan fail and what were the ramifications of this failure on the course of events and on LNM itself? The research question is answered through analysis of literature review of that era along with conclusions drawn from rereading the flow of events in the time of study. The basic conclusion that the thesis has reached is that reform in a confessional country that is continuously penetrated by foreign powers is indeed a very difficult endeavor. The political plan that was schemed by LNM still applies today, after more than forty years of its announcement, which proves that the system is inherently handicapped.