Building states, building nations: India and Lebanon in comparative perspective

Abstract

After independence, India and Lebanon attempted to manage their diverse societies through the framework of democratic states. Both countries deliberately eschewed the traditional nation-state model in which a mostly homogeneous and exclusively defined nation is represented by a state. Instead, Lebanon and India tried to create state-nations in which citizens with divergent ethnic, linguistic, and religious identities see themselves as part of the same political community through participation in a common state. Despite their attempts to democratically embrace diversity instead of imposing homogeneity, Lebanon and India followed vastly different paths in their political development. India’s democracy has proved remarkably resilient over the decades, becoming a rare democratic success in the developing world despite the country’s numerous ethnolinguistic and religious fault lines. Lebanon, which was for decades the Arab world’s only democracy, collapsed under the weight of sectarian tensions in 1975, leading to a civil war that lasted fifteen years. While its success in building a state-nation is qualified by its recurrent problems in Kashmir and the recent rise of Hindu nationalism, India has sustained democracy and avoided fragmentation and civil war for over seven decades. Lebanon, on the other hand, represents a markedly less successful attempt at building a state-nation due to its lack of national cohesion that has continued long after the end of the civil war. The explanation for both countries’ divergent trajectories lies in colonial legacies and political leadership, as well as institutional design choices that either fostered national unity or entrenched internal divisions. This thesis particularly seeks to underline the importance of creating a “we-feeling,” a sense of common belonging to a shared political community that coexists with citizens’ other salient identities, as a key factor in whether countries can build and maintain democracies in diverse societies.