Despite the 21 years that have passed since his assassination, the memory of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri continues to invoke longing and appreciation across large swathes of Lebanese society. He embodied the notion of strong and viable state institutions in the place of Lebanon's corrupt and sectarian power-sharing system that remains in place to this day.
Hariri's assassination on 14 February 2005 seems like aeons ago, but the reasons behind his killing are still present in today's society. Where he stood for moderation, today's politicians insist on extremism, where he stood on development and reconstruction, today's leaders thrive on corruption and decay.
In truth, Hariri’s adversaries extended beyond the men who actually assassinated him. Certain figures who mourn him today bear a troubling resemblance to those who conspired against him and worked to upend his vision. Even those who may not share Hezbollah's vision and politics still benefit from a weak state, so they continue to stand in the way of strengthening the state.
Even though today, the major obstacles to a strong Lebanese state have been eliminated or weakened— i.e. the fall of the Assad regime and Israel's crippling of Hezbollah manpower and assets—many politicians are still obstructing the emergence of such a state.
Lessons unlearned
The same goes for Syria. Many are trying to justify the retention of arms beyond legitimate bounds. Even those who fought Hezbollah and struggled for years against Bashar al-Assad have come to adopt the same logic they once resisted. They have begun treating the state as an abstract claim to authority rather than a principled framework grounded in law and accountability.
