Civic Education / National Education
Core concepts
Covers the state and its institutions (executive, legislative, judiciary), the constitution, rights and duties of citizens, democracy and elections, rule of law, and national identity and citizenship in the Lebanese context, including the Taif Agreement's institutional reforms.
Traps
- Confusing separation of powers with a hierarchy - the branches check, not command, one another.
- Mixing rights (entitlements) with duties (obligations); many are paired (e.g., voting and paying taxes are duties; expression is a right).
- Attributing constitutional provisions to the wrong institution (e.g., ratifying laws is Parliament's role, not the President's alone).
- Treating citizenship as only legal status, ignoring participation and responsibility.
- Confusing the Taif Agreement (1989) with earlier or later accords.
Rule of thumb
For any institution question, ask three questions: who composes it, what does it do, and whom does it answer to? For rights/duties items, decide first whether the statement describes an entitlement or an obligation.
Worked example
A statement says "Parliament executes the budget." Identify the function: execution belongs to the executive (government), while Parliament votes and controls the budget. The statement confuses control with execution - a classic distractor.