This Article Résumé Resumen Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Jawad, R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

A Profile of Social Welfare in Lebanon

Assessing the Implications for Social Development Policy

University of Nottingham, UK, RANJAWAD{at}aol.com

This article profiles social welfare in the Lebanon based upon the perceptions of a group of expert observers and practitioners there. It proposes that welfare is primarily a charitable initiative that springs from the private sphere but becomes politicized once it assumes a public role. The conceptualization of welfare, however, is in no way rudimentary; indeed, the actors concerned are actively engaging with the developmental discourses of our times thereby building bridges between `traditional' and `modern' visions of social justice. The Lebanese case is interesting for social development policy since it illustrates the dynamism of non-state welfare actors. A key issue is religious welfare (particularly Islamic), which continues to receive little attention in the social development literature. To this extent, the article reviews poverty and social dynamics in Lebanon and questions the universal relevance of social exclusion as an analytical tool for understanding processes of human impoverishment.

Key Words: Lebanon • politics • poverty • religion • social exclusion • welfare

Global Social Policy, Vol. 2, No. 3, 319-342 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/14680181020020030501


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?