Lebanon’s experience reveals the discord between the psychology of crowds and the goals of the political elites who rally behind them – a conflict that can also be seen in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, Tunisia’s Sidi Bouzid, and Tripoli, Libya, where crowds have stormed the parliament building several times in the last few months. This discord is threatening to derail these countries’ burgeoning democratic processes, owing to growing competition between what Le Bon called the “sovereignty of the crowds” and the sovereignty of political elites.