If you refer to what lies behind a situation or event, you are referring to the reason the situation exists or the event happened.
It seems that what lay behind the clashes was disagreement over the list of candidates.
PHRASAL VERB: V P n
If you refer to what lies behind a situation or event, you are referring to the reason the situation exists or the event happened.
It seems that what lay behind the clashes was disagreement over the list of candidates.
PHRASAL VERB: V P n
Collins COBUILD. Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) . 2012