The recent civil war and changes in the confessional composition of Lebanese society have led to the transformation of the State institutions of this small Arab country, which has a unique parliamentary structure and a constitution based on French legislation. Keywords: Middle East, Lebanon, Lebanese crisis, confessionalism, Lebanese political system. In the decades-long Middle East conflict, which involves not only countries located in the region, but also other States, Lebanon does not occupy the most prominent place. After the civil war of the 1970s and 1980s, it lost its role as a Middle Eastern financial center and gradually lost its independence in solving many important state problems. The Lebanese State had to make considerable efforts to maintain a balance between the interests of internal and external forces. During this period, Lebanese society underwent various changes, which led to the need to transform State institutions. Let's look at the most notable of them. It is well known that the political structure of this country was built from the very beginning on the principles of confessional representation, in accordance with the size of a particular religious community, which distinguished Lebanon not only from Western countries, but also from neighboring Arab states. Despite some reservations in legal acts, in practice in Lebanon, the religious affiliation of a candidate for a particular post has always been taken into account first, and only then - his professional and personal qualities. The confessional principle is the basis of the country's electoral system. The situation is aggravated by the fact that political parties, with some exceptions, are again built on a religious platform and "in reality represent nothing more than confessional clans" (Rizk, 1966, p.4). This statement of the Lebanese scientist Charles Rizk remains relevant to this day. Thus, any changes in the state structure of the country became impossible without decisive changes in th ... Читать далее