Transnational Capital and Confessional Politics: The Paradox of the Health Care System in Lebanon

Abstract

For the past two decades there has been a debate over the implementation of structural adjustment policies in the health sector of developing countries, much of it focusing on the political and economic relevance of the reform process for public health provision. However, very few studies have been able to assess the relevance of the private sector, which has had a central role in the restructuring of health services worldwide. Lebanon provides just such a case, with a predominantly private provider and the role of the state relegated to financing, with few controls over supply. This situation has ensured the systematic destruction of what remained of public provision in the 1970s. The country is now faced with one of the most expensive health services in the world, and one in which much of the population continues to live under conditions of considerable economic deprivation. The unique situation of Lebanon is maintained by its politics of confessionalism, with sociopolitical relations dominated by primordial ties of family, tribe, and kin, which does not seem to be an obstacle to the process of globalization. The authors suggest that this context reinforces the gross inequalities in access to health care; they explore the complex relationship between state, finance capital, and confessional politics in the context of health sector reform, in particular the financing of health care.