Beyond Lebanon: How the Nation-State System is Unraveling

Crescent International

Sha'ban 14, 1446 2025-02-13

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

As Lebanon announced the formation of its new government on February 8, it triggered an avalanche of western and Israeli propaganda.

In a desperate attempt to frame the development as a political victory for Israel, western media outlets engaged in rhetorical gymnastics, aiming to convince their poorly-informed audiences that Hizbullah had been sidelined from Lebanon’s political landscape.

This narrative, however, quickly unraveled.

The attempt to spin Lebanon’s political dynamics as a triumph for zionists was, at best, a short-lived illusion.

Within days, even Israeli sources were forced to acknowledge that Hizbullah-approved candidates had assumed ministerial positions in the new government.

Yet,beyond the composition of the new government—which is set to serve until May 2026—lies a far more significant development.

The very process leading up to its formation exposed deep contradictions in the western-imposed nation-state structure that was foisted upon the rest of the world by the victors of the Second World War.

In the lead-up to government formation in Lebanon, US envoy Morgan Ortagus made a striking statement in Beirut: Hizbullah, she asserted, would not be part of the government.

Whether intended as a declaration of policy or an attempt to exert pressure, her remark carried implications far beyond Lebanon.

With this single, poorly formulated statement, Ortagus inadvertently signaled the unraveling of a foundational principle of the modern nation-state system—the idea that each country retains sovereignty over its internal governance.

If Washington claims it has the right and the authority to dictate which political actors may or may not participate in a sovereign government, then the very notion of state borders as sacrosanct, legitimate, and essential has been openly discarded.

This precedent suggests two profound geopolitical shifts in the years ahead:

1: Political Interference Will Become a Two-Way Street

Non-NATO countries may increasingly view direct involvement in US and European political affairs as a justified response to western meddling.

If Washington sees fit to dictate who can be included in the Lebanese government, why should others not seek to influence political processes in Washington, Paris, or London?

2: The Revival of non-Nation-State Political Models in West Asia

For centuries, Islamic movements in the region have tried to operate outside the rigid nation-state framework imposed by the colonial powers.

With the erosion of this imposed structure, movements across West Asia may find renewed justification for alternative governance models rooted in historical and religious traditions rather than artificial borders.

The western narrative surrounding Lebanon’s government formation was never about democracy or stability.

It is about its neo-colonial presence and securing Israel’s geopolitical interests.

It is another attempt to impose a geopolitical agenda, which failed.

It will inadvertently accelerate the very transformations western powers fear most—greater resistance to foreign interference and a reconfiguration of political structures in West Asia.