Stability Under Fire : Governing Lebanon’s Wartime Economy
Stability Under Fire: Governing Lebanon’s Wartime Economy is a policy brief series developed in response to the ongoing war and its profound economic and institutional consequences. Anchored in the theme of “Governing Under Constraint,” the series examines how the Lebanese state can act despite severe fiscal limitations, drawing on non-financial tools such as regulation, coordination, asset reallocation, and information.
The series is structured as a coherent intervention rather than a set of standalone analyses, following a two-phase approach:
Phase 1 focuses on immediate wartime responses, identifying what can be done now, at zero or minimal cost, to stabilize essential systems, maintain access to services, and prevent further institutional erosion.
Phase 2 looks at the post-war horizon, outlining measures that can be implemented from day one of recovery to reactivate key sectors, restore economic activity, and avoid deepening structural decline.
Across sectors such as displacement, market regulation, healthcare, and education, the briefs advance a central argument: the binding constraint is not only financial, but institutional. Even under collapse, the state retains the capacity to act if governance tools are deployed effectively.
By linking short-term crisis management with mid-term recovery thinking, Stability Under Fire aims to contribute to a more coherent, actionable, and politically grounded policy response in Lebanon.
