School Teachers Shape the Lebanese Government’s Policy Agenda: a Volatile Balance of Negotiations, Strikes and Protests

In this paper, I propose to uncover the complex way in which interest groups, such as the school teachers’ syndicate, are able to influence the policy agenda of the Lebanese government. Since sectarianism, the middle class, and the business elites can play an important role in various Lebanese political parties, which usually forge coalitions to constitute governments, I aim to uncover this multi-party negotiation process that drives interest groups vouching for the support of the influential political and business elite to influence policy formation within the government. I argue that in the multi-sectarian political context of Lebanon, school teachers often find themselves not only obliged to overcome the challenges posed by the formal political process (that is lobbying and negotiating with members of parliament and government ministers), but also drawn into negotiations with other crucial players in Lebanese politics, such as the Church, the business elite, and political party leaders. The case of school teachers in Lebanon should not be taken at face value as a body that negotiates with government, but as an interest group that manoeuvres the political context, whether by the use of formal or informal tactics, in order to achieve their goals. In this political setting, government responsiveness is no longer what the teachers’ group are after, but the responsiveness of these multiple groups (such as the religious establishments, business elite and political party leaders) to attempt to score a victory on the policy making front, chiefly by setting the political agenda and by receiving the support of these multiple political decision makers. For this research, I will refer to secondary sources to flesh out the background of the issue. I will focus on semi-structured interviews with leading members of the teachers’ syndicate and government officials to shed light on the details of the negotiation process.