Thirdly, to overcome the causes and effects of the crisis, and according to what the inventory reveals, and for a small country like ours, the government will seek to establish economic enduring agreements with such non-hostile foreign countries with no threatening positions with regard to our social cohesion or legitimate authority: Economics is inherently political.

We know very well that it is difficult for Lebanese who are entrenched in sects, in general, and for sectarian leaders, in particular, to imagine that we could be in a state that deals with the external world as made of foreign powers, just as it is hard for them to imagine that the local residents constitute a real one society. This is due to the fact that sects are, by definition, an alienation from society and a contradiction of the very understanding of a state, without which there can be no meaning for the divide between internal and external. Succinctly speaking, sects represent a deviation from balanced and appropriate relationship between society and authority.

Based on our conviction that our society functionally needs a capable state, and based on our conviction that a capable state can only be a civil state, we will discuss the thorny political issues that are based on some foreign relations and from which internal divisions presently emerge: (1) our enmity with Israel; (2) Hezbollah’s weapons; (3) our relationship with Syria; and (4) the regional and international dimensions of Lebanon’s transformation.