Lebanon Post PM Rafiq Hariri Assassination: The Rule of The Quadripartite Accord 2005-2008 “Dawlat Al Hilf Al Ruba’i”: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

When the 2005 parliamentary elections ended with the March 14 movement winning the majority of parliament the next constitutional step was the selection of the prime minister. As stipulated in the constitution the Candidate would have to gain the majority of parliament votes to be assigned as Prime minister-elect. However, the newly elected parliament was not the venue where the political leaders of Lebanon conducted their consensus and discussions.

The 14th of March leader Saad Hariri had two candidates to head the government: Bahij Tabbara and Fouad Siniora. His choice was settled when he asked Siniora to visit Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, accompanied by his political advisor the late Mr. Mustafa Nasser. Siniora, the former finance minister presented his “national convictions,” alongside his affirmed belief in the Palestine cause and in the resistance as an option. Most importantly he expressed his commitment to the “Quadripartite agreement” and not the constitution.

The “Quadripartite accord” between the future movement (Saad Hariri), the progressive socialist movement (Walid Jumblat), the Amal movement (Nabeh Berri), and the Hezbollah party. The accord came as a replacement for the withdrawal of Syria’s influence in managing Lebanese state affairs in the aftermath of UN resolution 1559 and the vacuum of power in the shadow state due to the assassination of PM Rafik Hariri (2005). It is necessary to recall the rule that dictated the accord of the four-party alliance in April 2005 between Hariri Jr. and Nasrallah: The majority is yours (the March 14 team in return for protecting the resistance’s weapons and national partnership in internal files, i.e. consensus in the Council of Ministers.

Four accords, four political parties, and four unity governments occurred in Lebanon between 2005 and 2008. Let alone multi policies about economic and financial matters and not to forget two wars, the semi-international war during the Israeli 2006 attacks and a semi-civil altercation in the May 2008 Hezbollah invasion of Beirut. Like many post-colonial states, this in specific could endure major conflicts/crises, which in turn presents the following obvious question: Does a Lebanese state exit? However, the gap I intend to study is that the existence of the shadow state in Lebanon provides the answer. I intend to study how the “Quadripartite Accord explains this. To the best of my knowledge, all events, and related accords pertinent to that period are not officially documented, nor are the governmental documents waiting to be released. Hence, the rationale of this study is to uncover the mask that was put on the Lebanese state between the years 2005 and 2008 using a qualitative approach that involves the triangulation method which is based on a discourse analysis of Mr. Mustafa Nasser and published books and studies from the Lebanese media between 2005 and 2008. The civil unrest during that period was created by the ruling class itself by utilizing the state’s constitution and tools the shadow state managed to sustain its place as part of the ruling class. A case in point is the “Quadripartite Accord” in 2005 which came to protect the sect or their respective position in the ruling class.