Decentring Under Scrutiny: The Limits of EU Engagement and Local Agency in Lebanon (2015–2024)

The article critically explores the European Union’s (EU) engagement in Lebanon (2015–2024) through the lens of decentring—an approach that seeks to transcend Eurocentric perspectives by acknowledging non-European viewpoints and highlighting the agency and lived experiences of local actors in international relations. Focusing on three key areas—the EU liberal development model, the security-driven approach, and the top-down nature of EU engagement—the study combines quantitative data on EU-funded projects with qualitative insights from interviews and official documents. The analysis uncovers certain ambivalence: while some EU practices are positively received and have contributed to important legal and institutional reforms, the EU support is often perceived as hierarchical and misaligned with local priorities. Civil society actors report challenges related to rigid funding structures that prioritize international NGOs, weak monitoring, and a limited understanding of Lebanon’s socio-political complexities. The article calls for a more reflexive, relational EU foreign policy that embraces dissonance, learns from local actors, and moves beyond normative projection. It contributes to decentring literature by grounding critique in empirical reality and proposing contrapuntal reconstruction as a way forward. In doing so, it encourages rethinking EU engagement not as imposition, but as mutual adaptation amid shifting geopolitical dynamics and increasing pressures on civil society.