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Michael Young

Michael Young

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Michael Young is a Lebanon affairs columnist for The National. He is the senior editor at the Malcolm H Kerr Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, where he also edits Diwan, the blog of the Carnegie Middle East Programme. A former journalist, he is the author of 'The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle' (Simon and Schuster, 2010), selected by The Wall Street Journal as one of its 10 notable books for 2010.
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Articles

A demonstrator holds a Lebanese flag during a protest in Beirut in March last year against the fall in Lebanese pound and mounting economic hardships. Reuters
Lebanon's social contract has collapsed, but why is there no move to revive it?

Reform is tough given the country's political system, however the thinking needs to begin

CommentJuly 06, 2022
A gas platform in the Mediterranean. Lebanon and Israel moved to settle a row over disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean. AP
How Lebanon's gas fields might become a curse in disguise

The pressure of reforming the economy will be reduced and the political class will find a way to finance itself

CommentJune 21, 2022
Thirteen independent candidates who previously took part in Lebanon's 2019 protest movement pose in front of the Martyrs' Statue in Beirut last month. AFP
How Lebanon's civil society legislators can succeed in Parliament

The so-called contestation bloc doesn't have the numbers to get its way, but it can be effective through co-operation

CommentJune 08, 2022
Head of Free Patriotic Movement MP Gebran Bassil at an electoral festival in Beirut on 21 May. EPA
Hurdles ahead for Lebanon's presidential candidates

The election results have hurt prospects of both the perceived favourites: Bassil and Franjieh

CommentMay 24, 2022
Lebanon's parliamentary elections closed on Sunday, May 15, 2022. AP
Lebanon's election replaces one stalemate with another

Continued factionalism in the new parliament will not bring reform any closer

CommentMay 17, 2022
Gebran Bassil, leader of Lebanon's biggest Christian bloc, the Free Patriotic Movement, during a briefing in Beirut last October. Reuters
Is this the end of Gebran Bassil's win-win relationship with Hezbollah?

The politician's ambition has only distanced him further from Lebanon's presidency

CommentApril 26, 2022
Lebanese protesters during anti-government demonstrations on the outskirts of Beirut, on October 27, 2019. AFP
Lebanon can't rely solely on civil society to bring change in the country

With elections on May 15, it remains to be seen what gains civilian candidates make against the political class

CommentApril 13, 2022
The normalisation of ties between Syria and other Arab countries may see Damascus have more influence in Lebanon. Reuters
Big diplomatic moves show a Middle East bracing for an Iran nuclear deal

With the US having taken a step back from the Middle East, new alignments are taking shape

CommentMarch 30, 2022
West Beirut, August 2, 1982. AFP
Notes for Kyiv today, from Beirut in '82

Military superiority has a relatively limited impact against well-organised defenders

CommentMarch 16, 2022
Supporters of Saad Hariri chant slogans during a rally calling on him to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections, in Beirut, Lebanon. Reuters
It is getting harder and harder to delay Lebanon's election

Political games and international pressure will force Beirut's elites to accept a vote

CommentMarch 01, 2022
A supporter of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group listens to a speech of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut, Lebanon, on November 11. AP
A way for Lebanon to break away from Hezbollah's hold

Solutions have to be sought in the confines of Lebanon’s sectarian system

CommentFebruary 16, 2022
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, gives a speech, in front of a picture of his late father and former Prime Minister of Lebanon RafiK Hariri, at his house in downtown Beirut on January 24. AP
With Hariri out, there is an imbalance of power in Lebanon's Sunni community

The electoral process would be delegitimised if the main Sunni candidates chose to not run

CommentFebruary 01, 2022
Lebanese celebrate the election of Michel Aoun as president in downtown Beirut, in 2016. AFP
Lebanon's Michel Aoun is on his way out but where does that leave the son-in-law?

Everything Gebran Bassil gained was gifted to him by his father-in-law, the country's president

CommentJanuary 19, 2022
Demonstrators take a break from anti-government protests in front of a wall covered with caricatures of Lebanese politicians, from left, Walid Joumblatt, Michel Aoun, Gebran Bassil and Saad Hariri. Reuters
Lebanon's president has leverage but his alliance with Hezbollah isn't over

Hezbollah’s critics should support Michel Aoun’s calls to talk about a national defence strategy

CommentJanuary 05, 2022
A monument that represents justice in front of towering grain silos that were gutted in the August 2020 explosion at the port that killed more than 200 people and wounded over 6,000, in Beirut, Lebanon. AP
Hezbollah’s inability to remove a judge in Lebanon

Tarek Bitar, the judge investigating the Beirut port explosion, has led to the judiciary acting more autonomously

CommentDecember 22, 2021
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