Not the best or deepest account, but for the modern reader who can't
spare time on Aristotle and a gamut of old beards [1] Acemoglu and
Robinson's account is clear and interesting reading [2].
In the case of Lebanon, the story is that it's ethnic/religious
diversity is too much for stability, it being constantly open to
interference from its neighbours and super-powers playing proxy war
games.
Plenty of places with high ethnic/religious diversity have thrived: Singapore, Istanbul, New York City, (increasingly) the capitals of Western Europe. Teotihuacan, the largest pyramid complex outside of Egypt, was a multi-cultural city where different religions, languages and ethnicities lived side by side for 1000 years. It can be done.
> Plenty of places with high ethnic/religious diversity have thrived:
What you say is true but besides the point. There's no argument to be
made against ethnic/religious diversity. But there is a problem with
foreign interference that stokes ethnic tension.
My own London is perhaps the most successful multi-cultural population
in the world. We don't have RPG attacks on schools because we don't
have superpowers spending millions on manipulating and arming the
Hoxton Crips against the Hounslow Massive. And there's the important
difference.
Not forgetting the Chelsea Gym Rats, the West End Wide Boys, the Hackney Pirates, the East End Geezahs, the Brixton Yardies, the Camden Punks, the Camberwell Carrots, etc
1. Singapore has an extremely controlling government and lots of accounts of an ethnic non-citizen “underclass” being exploited.
2. Turkey as a whole is questionable. They have rampant ethnic violence even if Istanbul is doing ok.
3. The US and Western Europe arent turkey but again, have various degrees of ethnic tension being played out. Whether that’s trump and all he stands for or France’s burka bans. They’re also generally more powerful so less susceptible to meddling.