This paper attempts to shed light on the nexus existing between power-sharing institutional designs in post-conflict post-colonial settings and the notion of sovereignty. Therefore, it pursues to highlight the variations in the power-sharing formulas endorsed in Lebanon and Iraq in order to underscore those disrupting patterns common within the two states. The paper explores the impact of the institutional design first, on the territoriality of the state and second, on the exclusive use of coercion. Hence, it proposes a notion of ‘fragmented sovereignty’. It argues that, whilst endorsed to stabilise the state, the power-sharing formulas boosted, undermined its statehood. The paper will utterly ask, that if fragmentation is indeed a persistent reality, then should we perceive the latter as the logical evolution of the notion of sovereignty in the Middle East? What are the implications for the state, its borders and its legitimacy in the international society?
