Effect of demographic structure on Lebanese geopolitics

Due to its geopolitical and geostrategic position, Lebanon has become an important centre of the Middle East, before and after gaining its independence. For this reason, in the past, many states have been in constant struggle to dominate the region where Lebanon is located. When we examine in depth, the reasons of these struggles that affect the facts are the geopolitical position, maritime dominance and being a commercial centre of Lebanon. Since the emergence of monotheism, Lebanon has been a region inhabited by a wide range of religious and sectarian people. The differences of these religious and sectarian have not only influenced Lebanon, and but shaped it from past to present as well. The social structure in Lebanon has two dimensions: ethnic and religious. On the ethnic dimension, the Arab-Eastern culture and the Christian Western culture, and on the religious dimension, Christians and Muslims are in a struggle. In other words, both the Christian Western culture and the Islamic Eastern culture have insistently an attitude so as to not create a synthesis in Lebanon. Unlike the other Arab countries, Lebanon is not a state that fully accepted to the Islam. For this reason, the community and its leaders who are Christians want to protect their own individuality and identify with Western culture. Although there are numerical differences in the religious and sectarian structure of the country, neither religion nor sect has an obvious majority. This situation has caused to a number of divisions within the country. The division based on the religion-sect factor in the country has been created one of the origins of internal conflicts. In Lebanon, the phenomenon of a "nation state has never fully developed, and above all, the Lebanese has held to not only their leaders buy their religions and sects as well. Consequently, the political crisis that began in Lebanon before the Civil War, has settled on a regional and international level, where the recent developments have become increasingly tense and the deepening of the purification, and still-continuing. In this study, it has been researched the geopolitical structure, the history, the physical and human elements, the regional policies, the constitutional structure and the regional conflicts of Lebanon. In the light of this obtained information, it is dwelled on how the demographic structure of Lebanon has changed and how this change has affected the geopolitics of the country. Finally, there are suggestions on how to get out of the chaos of the country.