Beyond Coexistence: Social Cohesion in Times of Crisis

From Temporary Solidarity to Lasting Trust Through a Renewed Social Contract

Every major crisis reveals the best of societies. Across the Arab region, wars, occupation, economic collapse, and humanitarian disasters have repeatedly demonstrated remarkable expressions of solidarity and mutual support. Families have opened their homes to displaced people, neighbors have shared their remaining food and medicine, volunteers and civil society organizations have mobilized relief efforts under extremely difficult circumstances, and local initiatives have stepped in to provide essential services when state institutions were unable to do so.

Yet, as soon as the immediate crisis subsides, this solidarity begins to fade. Political and social divisions re-emerge, while trust among citizens as well as between citizens and the state gradually erodes. This raises an important question: why are our societies capable of extraordinary solidarity during times of crisis, yet unable to transform that solidarity into lasting social cohesion?

The answer lies in the fact that crises do not create divisions but rather expose divisions that have accumulated over time and history. Rather than destroying social cohesion, crises reveal the fragility of the existing social contract and the widening gap between the state and society, and especially between what citizens expect from public institutions and what those institutions are actually capable and/or willing to deliver.

Social cohesion does not mean the absence of differences or tensions, nor does it require social uniformity. Rather, it reflects the capacity of a diverse society to manage its differences peacefully while ensuring that all citizens feel they belong to a shared national project, that their rights are protected, their dignity respected, their opportunities are fair, and that public institutions serve the common good rather than narrow interests. Trust, therefore, is not created by political rhetoric or slogans; it is the product of fair institutions, equitable public policies, and relationships grounded in equal citizenship.

In addition, the crisis of social cohesion in the Arab region cannot be understood without considering its political economy. Decades of inequitable economic policies, widening social inequalities, high unemployment, deteriorating education and healthcare services, expanding precarious employment, and the marginalization of rural and peripheral areas have weakened citizens’ sense of belonging and equality. At the same time, shrinking civic space, weak accountability, and declining confidence in public institutions have deepened both the vertical polarization between citizens and the state and the horizontal polarization among different segments of society.

Recent Arab Barometer surveys point to declining levels of trust in public institutions and political parties across much of the Arab region. This helps explain why the solidarity that emerges in moments of collective danger often gives way to frustration once the crisis has passed. Trust cannot endure if the structural causes of mistrust remain unaddressed.

The experiences of Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria illustrate different dimensions of this challenge. In Lebanon, the Taif Agreement succeeded in ending the civil war but failed to establish a renewed social contract capable of addressing the underlying causes of division and rebuilding trust between citizens and the state. In Palestine, reconstruction, albeit essential and necessary, cannot produce either peace or lasting social cohesion under continued occupation and the denial of the Palestinian people’s fundamental rights. In Syria, the experience demonstrates that rebuilding cities and physical infrastructure does not automatically rebuild relationships among citizens or restore confidence in public institutions. Despite their different contexts, these experiences point to one common lesson: rebuilding bricks and mortar is not enough to rebuild society.

Experiences from other countries such as South Africa, Rwanda, and Colombia also demonstrate that peace agreements and reconstruction efforts become sustainable only when accompanied by political and social processes that redefine the relationship between citizens and the state based on justice, accountability, and participation. Reconciliation is not an event; it is a long-term process of rebuilding trust.

Recovery, therefore, should not be reduced to reconstructing physical infrastructure or reviving economic activity. Genuine recovery is fundamentally about rebuilding trust, renewing the social contract, and restoring institutional legitimacy. A renewed social contract is not merely a legal document or a political settlement. It is a shared societal understanding that guarantees equal rights and responsibilities for all citizens, protects their dignity, responds to their needs, and enables meaningful participation in shaping their collective future.

Such a social contract cannot regain legitimacy unless it is built upon a comprehensive understanding of justice. Justice extends far beyond legal accountability or transitional justice. It also encompasses social, economic, gender, environmental, and intergenerational justice. It requires combating all forms of discrimination while ensuring universal social protection, universal health coverage, food security, quality education, decent work, and equal opportunities for women and men, for urban and rural communities, and for both present and future generations.

Within this framework, peace must be reclaimed as a public good and recognized as a fundamental prerequisite for sustainable development and not merely as the absence of war. Decades of wars, occupation, and armed conflicts have drained resources that should have been invested in education, healthcare, social protection, innovation, and economic development, while generating persistent cycles of poverty, inequality, displacement, and violence. They have also fueled hate speech and polarization, deepened social divisions, and weakened social cohesion by eroding trust among citizens. There can be no sustainable development without peace, no lasting peace without justice, and no justice without institutions that enjoy the confidence of their citizens.

The Arab region does not suffer from a lack of solidarity, resilience, or community initiative. What it lacks is the ability to transform temporary solidarity into lasting trust, trust into legitimate institutions, and legitimate institutions into a renewed social contract. This is the true challenge of reconstruction, recovery, and peacebuilding.

The real test of social cohesion is not whether societies come together when disaster strikes, especially since they have repeatedly demonstrated that they can. Rather, it lies in their ability to build just institutions, equal citizenship, and inclusive development policies that transform the solidarity born in moments of suffering into a permanent feature of everyday life rather than an exceptional response to exceptional circumstances. Societies are not rebuilt when wars end, or buildings are reconstructed; they are rebuilt when citizens regain confidence that their future is a shared project founded on peace, justice, dignity, and equal citizenship.