Abstract
With its unique geographic location at the crossroads of three continents, Lebanon has always been a passageway to many different peoples and cultures. The coexistence of a dozen and a half of different religions in such a tiny territory has been a model for diversity. However, this diversity has also partly resulted in devastating civil wars throughout the modern history of Lebanon, from which a system of political sectarianism has emerged and the current system is in crisis. For 15 years after the end of the civil war, Lebanon sought to rebuild itself, but the recent changes in the international, regional, and national arena have broken the fragile equilibrium on which Lebanon had been surviving. New political forces have emerged, such as the Hizbullah, and the demographics have changed. Syria and Israel have withdrawn their troops, and social and economic factors have become politicized issues with religion.
