Lebanon: Turning Protests Into Power

For nearly three months, massive protests have rocked Lebanon. Demonstrators have given voice to economic and political grievances, but this has not yet translated into structural or institutional change. The country, left without a government for three months and without a concrete economic agenda, has been suspended in revolutionary limbo. Although a new government was formed on Jan. 21, the crisis is far from over. The prime minister’s resignation in late October sparked a political crisis that, coupled with a severe economic downturn and a protest movement unsure about its tactics or priorities, gradually sapped the unbridled anger emanating from the street.