Civil Society And Lebanon

his study pursues a hermeneutic and dialogic conception of the public sphere. Through a critical assessment of the development of the closely related ideas of civil society and a democratic public sphere, this essay attempts to demonstrate that theorists must move beyond any traditional notion of civil society when conceptualizing the public sphere in comparative studies. Instead, the comparative theorist must pursue a critical cultural hermeneutic that makes room for the recognition of: 1) the incorporation of such ideas as civil society or democracy by other polities and their appropriation and transformation by those peoples; and 2) the unique social structures, political action and modes of rationality and discourse such as asabiya that emerge from specific historical, cultural and spatial locations. Specifically, this study explores Ibn Khaldoun’s notion of Asabiya and its impact on the constitution of civil society and the public sphere in Lebanon, paying particular attention to the notions of power and authority within the context of this indigenous concept in particular, and Lebanese (and Arab) culture in general.

About The Author
Michael D. Dawahare (Ph.D., University of Kentucky) teaches political science at Georgetown College where he also serves as Director of the Office of College Communications. A former journalist, Dr. Dawahare lived and worked in Beirut during the civil war as a correspondent for RKO Radio Networks and as a staff reporter for The Beirut Daily Star. Prior to his tenure in Lebanon, Dr. Dawahare was an NBC News correspondent in Latin America and served as an editor on the radio desk in New York.