COVID-19 and Municipal Policymaking in Lebanon

• In Event: New Approaches to MENA Research for COVID-19 and Beyond

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 and the rapid spread of the virus has posed new challenges to governments worldwide. In many cases, the coordination of responses by local and national authorities has been critical to effective containment. In Lebanon, the outbreak has exacerbated the existing economic and political crisis that has shaken the country since fall 2019. Drawing on findings from an original Whatsapp survey of local officials, this paper aims to understand the drivers of local policymaking on COVID-19 in Lebanon, and how central policies are interpreted and implemented locally, particularly in a context of weak central enforcement. A shift in central policy in late September, whereby the central government began dictating local lockdowns, allows for testing the differential effect of central government policies on local measures, both in localities that were targeted for lockdowns and those that were not. Finally, in the context of the ongoing large-scale presence of Syrian refugees within Lebanese localities, we study the adoption or expansion of discriminatory policies towards migrants in the context of the public health crisis.

Authors

• Melani Cammett, Harvard University

• Lama Mourad, Carleton University