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Lebanon has served for decades as one of the world\u2019s leading experiments in extreme libertarianism, illustrating what happens to a society with little to no government regulation or social protection.\xa0\nThe COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the weaknesses of a health system suffering from corruption and gaping inequalities between public and private hospitals. What role have neoliberal international aid demands for austerity and privatization\u2014known as the Washington Consensus\u2014played in setting up Lebanon\u2019s health system for failure? And what does Lebanon\u2019s case show about the need to reinvest in strong public goods?\xa0\nOn this episode of Order from Ashes, Sima Ghaddar joins Kareem Chehayeb, who in a recent commentary for The Century Foundation argued that austerity and privatization have left residents of Lebanon extremely vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.\nParticipants include:\nKareem Chehayeb, journalist, Beirut\nSima Ghaddar, doctoral candidate, University of California, Los Angeles\nThanassis Cambanis, senior fellow, The Century Foundation