Geography lesson plan: Lebanon's sectarianism, turbulent governance, and Hezbollah

The Israel-Hamas war has upended the Middle East over the past several months, with the conflict (re)-fuelling tensions throughout the region. Against this backdrop, my students and I explored the situations of several countries in the neighbourhood that could experience political turmoil.

This lesson plan focuses on Lebanon, familiarising students with the country's political and societal divisions along sectarian lines (between various Christian, Muslim, and Druze communities), the effects of this fragmentation on Beirut's political governance and stability, and Hezbollah.

Introduction

To set the scene, students share their pre-existing knowledge about Lebanon. We then view this Sky News video examining recent street protests in Lebanon near the US embassy in Beirut to provide a further hook.

To build foundational knowledge about Lebanon, students are tasked in pairs with conducting research about some of the key different religious sects in the country and their political and societal roles. Students use the Padlet map tool to visualise their research and place it appropriately in an area of Lebanon where their assigned group is predominantly present.

The prompt: Place a pin in an area where your selected religious group is prominent in Lebanon and then write a description about the group: What is key information about them? What has been their role in Lebanese society and politics both past and present? Options: Lebanese Shia Muslims, Lebanese Sunni Muslims, Maronite Christians, Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians, Melkite Christians, Lebanese Druze.

After the groups all finish their work, students also share their findings verbally with the rest of the class, providing an opportunity to note certain patterns (e.g. the different roles varying groups play in the political system - presidency, prime ministership, speakership deputy positions, etc...) and geopolitical leanings.

I project a few maps and slides of Lebanon (and its regional sectarian splits) to guide this discussion. Here, here, here, here, and here. It is worth highlighting the generally similar ethnic backgrounds, despite the religious diversity, as predominantly Lebanese Arabs. Students can also be guided towards connecting the presence of Palestinian Arab community to the Nakba. Finally, I show students the original complete division of key roles between the different groups in Lebanon - students can be asked about which groups might have felt aggrieved based on the quotas.

As a class, we then watch this Vox video - 'How the Beirut explosion was a government failure' - using the Beirut port explosion as a hook to examine political and economic turmoil in the country and its connectedness to Lebanon's history and rule by many religious sects.

Video discussion questions

1. How can governance be best characterised in Lebanon and what are the causes of this performance?

2. Is Lebanon's political system workable? What would be possible alternative designs and potential challenges?

If they don't bring it up themselves, students are encouraged to think through how and whether a more typical parliamentary democracy without quotas/designated positions would work in Lebanon. They are also invited to think about other examples of countries with either religious, ethnic, or other divisions and how they make it work (or not). Students can also be shown the division of roles/parliament currently in place since the Taif agreement.

Hezbollah

After this contextual information about the country, students are ready to learn about Hezbollah - both their past and the role they might play in any broader contemporary conflict. For this, students read this article from the Washington Post - 'What is Hezbollah, the militant group on Israel’s northern border?'.

Once finished with the text, students can link the group to the prior Padlet assignment (where does Hezbollah fit in?), compare/contrast Hezbollah and Hamas (especially if they've already learned about the latter group), make connections to the broader geopolitical backdrop of the region (such as the legacy of the Arab Spring and Iran's role in funding groups like the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas), and assess the (un)likelihood of a regional conflict.

Extra

The Great Big Story videos are generally excellent add-ons, spotlighting distinct human interest stories. A few on Lebanon include 'Dancing for Freedom in the Middle East' (LGBTQ rights), 'The Artist Tagging Lebanon', and 'The Hotel That Time Forgot'.