Decentralization/Federalism: Taif Accord
Implementations
Decentralization/Federalism – 1989
Administrative decentralization as agreed in the Taif accord was not initiated and no draft law on administration decentralization was introduced in the parliament.
Decentralization/Federalism – 1990
No developments observed this year.
Decentralization/Federalism – 1991
No developments observed this year.
Decentralization/Federalism – 1992
No developments observed this year.
Decentralization/Federalism – 1993
No developments observed this year.
Decentralization/Federalism – 1994
No developments observed this year.
Decentralization/Federalism – 1995
There had been various proposals presented for discussions since 1995, but they lack a clear distinction between the central government and the decentralized units. “The only area where the decentralization has been applied is at municipalities. The Taif Agreement calls for another higher level of decentralization than that of Qadaa (district), but a decentralization law is still pending.”[fn]”Lebanon: Local governance in Complex Environments- Project Assessment,” UNDP, 2010, accessed April 5, 2011, http://www.undp.org, accessed 5 April 2011.[/efn_note] Taif agreement calls for the model that combines aspects of decentralization at the level of the eight governorates and 25 districts (Qudaa) with administrative decentralization at the municipal level.
Decentralization/Federalism – 1996
No developments observed this year.
Decentralization/Federalism – 1997
No developments observed this year.
Decentralization/Federalism – 1998
Prime Minister of Lebanon, Salim al-Huss, delivered his government’s policy statement on 14 December 1998. One of his policy statements was related to administrative decentralization and was listed as number 10 in his outline of national goals. He was prioritizing an approval of a bill for the administrative decentralization.1 But a bill on decentralization was not introduced in the assembly in 1998.
- “Lebanon: prime minister delivers government policy statement,” BBC Monitoring Middle East, December 15, 1998.
Decentralization/Federalism – 1999
No bill was introduced despite it being 10 years after the accord was signed.
The council of ministers in 2001 approved a law that would give more powers to municipalities including the authority to allocate and prioritize resources and projects. During 2002 and 2003, UNDP implemented a project Promotion of Decentralization and Local governance with resources provided by the Democratic Governance Trust Fund.2 As of 2010, the administration decentralization law was not proposed by the Ministry of Interior.