Lebanon's democratic system differs from Israel's in several significant ways:
-
Political System Structure: Lebanon is not a constitutional monarchy; rather, it is a parliamentary democracy. Israel is also a parliamentary democracy but does not have a division of power based on religion or ethnicity.
-
Sectarian Political System: Lebanon's political system reserves government offices and parliamentary seats for specific religious groups, mainly Christians, Shiite Muslims, and Sunni Muslims, in a system known as confessionalism. Israel, in contrast, does not have such a formal allocation of political power based on religious affiliation, although its political parties often represent different ethnic and religious groups.
-
Power-Sharing: Lebanon's power-sharing arrangement aims to balance influence among its Christian, Muslim, and Druze populations, whereas Israel's government operates more on a basis of a secular democracy without the same rigid sectarian divisions.
-
Dominance of Groups: In Lebanon, armed groups like Hezbollah (often referred to as Hamas, though Hamas is actually based in the Palestinian territories) play a significant role in politics and governance, effectively functioning as a political party as well as a militant group. In Israel, while there are political factions that represent the interests of different communities, the governance does not involve major military groups in the same way as in Lebanon.
In summary, the primary differences lie in the sectarian nature of Lebanon's political system and the extent to which armed groups influence governance, in contrast to Israel's more secular and varied democratic practices.