In the span of two decades, Hizballah has evolved from an armed resistance movement against Israeli occupation into an efficient political party and---by extension---into a permanent fixture on Lebanon's mainstream political stage. The present analysis traces the evolution of the party from its inception and assesses its performance vis-a-vis the major players of Iran, Israel and Syria. Factors including the characteristics of the movement and the Shiite community itself, the shifting position, interests and policies of various regional actors, and the changing domestic conditions in Lebanon were isolated in order to adequately explain the behaviour and development of Hizballah. As a result, such alternatives to cultural factors (i.e the "Islamic variable") were found to be stronger explanatory factors rather than the Islamic factor. Ultimately, the essay illustrates that Islamic considerations are secondary, if not tertiary, when political decisions are to be made in different contexts. Rather, it is the interests of the more powerful actors that govern the organization's next move, in addition to the aforementioned variables. On the basis of such assumptions and findings, conclusions were finally drawn regarding Hizballah's future developments and its prospects following an Israeli withdrawal.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, Discipline of Politics, 2005. / "December 2003" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 349-387).

Diss. Univ. Amsterdam, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

This research examines the establishment and expansion of Hezbollah. It uses a policy perspective in explaining the growth of this organization. Moreover, it focuses on Israel’s disproportionate use of force in Lebanon as a major cause behind the very existence of Hezbollah. The analysis of Israeli policy will be done by examining three separate conflicts as case studies. These events are: the 1982 (Peace for Galilee) invasion of Lebanon that helped to create Hezbollah, the 1996 (Operation Grapes of Wrath) Hezbollah-Israeli conflict which served to bolster Hezbollah in Lebanon, and finally the 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli war which solidified Hezbollah as a military force in the region. The first part of the study analyzes the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon to dismantle PLO bases and the resulting vacuum filled by Hezbollah. In an effort to eliminate Hezbollah, Israel again invaded Lebanon in 1996 allowing Hezbollah to expand its power based in Lebanon by providing a number of services including healthcare, financial services, and construction among others. In 2006, Israel again invaded Lebanon resulting in an increase in weapons shipments and funding to Hezbollah from Syria, Iran and a number of other countries, further increasing danger to Israel. These invasions have served to bolster Hezbollah in Lebanon. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the repercussions of Israeli military invasions in Lebanon

The purpose of the study was to contribute to the overall understanding of terrorist organizations' use of the Internet and to increase researchers' knowledge of Web site effectiveness. The methodological approach was evaluation of the perceived credibility of Web sites based on existing criteria derived from information users. The Web sites of four terrorist organizations were assessed: two secular nationalist groups, the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers); and two religious nationalist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah. The findings of this analysis showed differences in perceived credibility factors among terrorist organizations' Web sites and positive levels of perceived credibility for the Web sites. These findings indicate the potential for positive impressions of the organizations' Web sites by information users, which would help empower the organizations with the capacity to reach their objectives. By using Web sites, these groups can effectively increase their support base through disseminating information, improving recruiting, and attracting monetary contributions, and can establish themselves as legitimate components of society.

This study investigates Hizb'allah's successful but competing dual development as an extra-institutional Shi'a social movement and an institutional political party. Hizb'allah has traditionally been studied from the perspective of one of its many natures, such as a social movement, Islamic movement, resistance, or political party, each perspective bringing with it limitations and differing interpretations of its identity, motivations, and success. The motivation behind this research was to seek an interpretation of the movement's development and success that would encompass these multiple natures. Through an interpretation of social movement ‘life-cycles', a social movement ‘development model' is proposed that accounts for contradicting theories on the ‘success' of social movements, interpreting success instead as an ability to exhibit simultaneous institutional and extra-institutional natures. The hypothesis provided in this work is that it is an ability to simultaneously exhibit institutional and extra-institutional natures that can be a source of strength and success for a movement, drawing capital from both while avoiding accountability that typically accompanies institutional politics. This challenges traditional theoretical approaches in terms of linear life-cycles with few paths for the social movement to choose from. In turn, questions arise regarding notions of social movement life-cycles being uni-directional, continuously progressing towards ‘institutionalization' or demise. Ideas of an ‘end-date' or ‘inevitable outcome' of social movements are also confronted. This interdisciplinary study is conducted by means of media, archival, and empirical research (participant observation, interviews, and surveys), focusing on changing constituent perceptions of the movement between 1985 and 2013. It is also argued that Hizb'allah's strength is its ability to draw from both extra-institutional and institutional resources while simultaneously avoiding accountability. However, it was also found that, by forming the 2011 governing coalition, the movement upset this balance by subjecting itself to accountability inherent in governance, in turn leading to ‘schizophrenic behaviour' as Hizb'allah sought to serve conflicting constituent and state interests. The significance of this research is that it not only provides an explanation for Hizb'allah's success, but also provides an interpretation of social movement development that accounts for multi-natured movements.

Depuis les attentats du 11 septembre 2001, le galvaudage intensif du concept d’« islamisme » par les sphères médiatiques et politiques a eu pour effet de catégoriser de manière simpliste et illusoire des phénomènes sociaux très différents de par le monde, dans le registre du terrorisme. Dans ce contexte, le Hezbollah libanais -pourtant chiite et farouchement opposé à Al-Qaïda- a acquis un statut particulier dans la mesure où le Secrétariat d’Etat américain l’a désigné comme la principale menace terroriste dès 2002. Nous proposons ici une recherche casuistique sur le « Parti de Dieu ». Etude longitudinale retraçant l’évolution de ce mouvement milicien devenu parti politique, notre travail vise à mieux cerner ce « fait social » et à situer celui-ci au sein du vaste spectre des islams politiques. Nous synthétisons ici les phases de maturation idéologique que celui-ci a connues depuis son émergence et retraçons l’évolution structurelle de ce parti politique avant tout caractérisé par son projet de « société résistante ». Chacun de ces deux volets (idéologique et structurel) laisse entrevoir les interactions bilatérales qui se sont créées, dans la diachronie, entre le religieux et le politique au sein du Hezbollah, mais illustre surtout la soumission polymorphe de l’un comme de l’autre à la cause inébranlable de la résistance face à Israël. L’élément fondamentalement nouveau que nous apportons à la littérature scientifique spécialisée est une grille d’interprétation du cheminement global d’une grande partie de la communauté chiite du Liban. Celle-ci a pour point de départ le concept -initialement psychologique- de « résilience », et propose la transposition de ce dernier dans le champ sociopolitique. L’analyse qui en découle met en perspective l’« idéologie résiliente » et la « structure résiliente » que le Hezbollah a progressivement développées dans une optique stratégique. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished