A Clinton strategist famously coined the phrase, “it’s the economy, stupid.” His boss was commander-in-chief of the strongest army on the planet. No economy within a truly democratic system can thrive without security guaranteed by an independent army with no political allegiance. This month, Executive looks at what is needed to restructure Lebanon’s increasingly threadbare army. The army’s weakness was one of the reasons Lebanon endured nearly 40 years of regional and civil unrest that sent a potentially hard currency into a tailspin and an economy crashing around our ears. In hindsight, the issue of sovereignty should have been dealt with after the 1975-91 war. Military reform would have been an essential by-product of such a nation-building exercise. What, it might have been argued, would be the point of a new central district if the nation’s borders are porous and internal security is subcontracted to an ambitious neighbor? Other countries
