Date of Award

Spring 4-21-2026

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Political Science and International Affairs

Department Chair or Program Director

Cooperman, Rosalyn

First Advisor

Lester, Emile

Second Advisor

Singh, Ranjit

Major or Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

As Lebanon seeks to reform multiple sectors of the country, it is crucial to understand how its consociational government, centered on religious identities, interacts with its citizens. Electoral accountability is the process by which an electorate holds politicians liable for their actions while in office. While previous studies, such as Vincent Hutchings’ “Public Opinion and Democratic Accountability,” have shown how electoral accountability functions within traditional party systems based on political ideology, there is little research on how accountability mechanisms operate in confessional party systems based on religion. This paper posits that within countries with confessional systems, voters are less able to judge candidates based on competence, but rather base their political affiliations on religious identity. Even more so, when districts are drawn in accordance with the religious identities of a given region, voters are predisposed to vote in accordance with their religious affiliation. In an analysis of Lebanon’s electoral system, this study explores the relationship between voters and their parties within a sectarian-based system. It explains why Lebanon’s system, in particular, merits a distinction from other consociational systems of government. In addition to the relationship between confessional systems and accountability, the impact of collective memory and elitism on different sects is studied as a confounding factor. The research also includes a cross-country analysis of Lebanon and Belgium, a country with a consociational system not based on religion. Through interviews with Lebanese voters and policymakers, findings correlate confessional electorates to a lack of accountability measures.

Download

Share

COinS