"Hizbullah's management of its image and identity are scrutinised by the authors alongside analysis of the movement's communication strategy, political behaviour and performance"--Provided by publisher.

"The important study [title] offers a revolutionary new perspective on the political phenomenon of Hizbullah whose evolution has frequently confounded scholars and politicians. Drawing on his unparalleled access to primary sources, Alagha has produced a unique work which traces all the shifts in Hizbullah's construction and reconstruction of its identity."--Publisher's site.

This book explores the rise of Hizbullah as a direct consequence of both the Iranian Revolution and the entanglement of Lebanon in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Protracted civil war and overwhelming foreign intervention by Lebanon’s neighbors enabled Hizbullah to emerge as the country’s dominant politico-military force. Hizbullah disabled the Lebanese political system and, in its capacity as Iran’s premier foreign proxy, allowed the Islamic Republic to take the lead in the regional tug of war with Israel. In its quest for achieving a distinguished regional status commensurate with its ambitions, Iran used Hizbullah to abort the Syrian uprising, actively contribute to its burgeoning influence in Iraq, and participate in its propaganda war against Saudi Arabia on a range of issues. The renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran coincided with a worldwide campaign to dry up Hizbullah’s sources of funding and compromised its integrity as a critical provider of patronage to its Lebanese Shi’ite base of support. The emergence of Russia as the real power player in Syria made it extremely difficult for Hizbullah to justify the high human cost it incurred to salvage the regime of Bashar Asad. This book examines the rise of Hizbullah and the marginalization and repression of Shi’ites that made them susceptible to exploitation by their sectarian leaders.

'Her dissection of Hizbullah's worldview is instructive. She treads carefully.' --The Jerusalem Post

With Hezbollah's entry into the Lebanese government in 2009 and recent forceful intervention in the Syrian civil war, the potent Shi‘i political and military organization continues to play an enormous role in the Middle East. Policymakers in the United States and Israel usually denounce it as a dangerous terrorist group and refuse to engage with it, yet even its adversaries need to contend with its durability and resilient popular support. Although Hezbollah’s popularity has declined in many quarters of the Arab world, the Shi‘i group—a hybrid of militia, political party, and social services and public works provider—remains the most powerful player in Lebanon. Augustus Richard Norton’s Hezbollah stands as the most lucid, informed, and balanced analysis of the group yet written. This edition, with a new prologue and expanded afterword, analyzes recent momentous events—including Hezbollah’s political performance in Lebanon, inconsistent responses to the Arab Spring, and recent military support of the al-Asad regime in Syria. Hezbollah is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the Middle East.

Drawing on first-hand interviews with rank and file members of Hezbollah, the author illuminates the inner workings of this Islamist terrorist group.

In this magisterial history of Lebanon, from the end of Ottoman rule to the Hezbollah and Hamas wars of today, acclaimed and fiercely independent Middle East journalist and historian David Hirst charts the interplay between a uniquely complex country and the broader struggles of the modern Middle East. Lebanon is the battleground on which the region's greater states pursue their strategic, political, and ideological conflicts--conflicts that sometimes escalate into full-scale proxy wars. Hirst warns that only serious diplomatic action from the Obama administration can prevent the next such action from engulfing the entire region.

A reflective examination of everyday life in Lebanon in times of precarity and political torpor.

"Hezbollah provides a new, grounded analysis of the controversial and misunderstood Lebanese party. Where previous books have focused on aspects of the party's identity, the military question or its religious discourse, here Joseph Daher presents an alternative perspective, built upon political economy. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Lebanon and dozens of interviews, as well as new archival and other primary sources, Daher's analysis confidently positions Hezbollah within socio-economic and political developments in Lebanon and the Middle East. He emphasises Hezbollah's historic ties with its main sponsor, the Islamic Republic of Iran, its media and cultural wings and its relationship with Western economic policies. Further chapters examine the party's policies towards workers' struggles and women's issues, and its orientation towards the sectarian Lebanese political system. An analysis of a topic which remains central to our understanding of one of the world's most tumultuous and politically unstable regions."--Publisher's description.

Over the last three decades, Hezbollah has developed from a small radical organization into a major player in the Lebanese, regional, and even international political arenas. Its influence in military issues is well known, but its role in shaping cultural and political activities has not received enough attention. Kanaaneh sheds new light on the organization’s successful evolution as a counterhegemonic force in the region’s resistance movement, known as “Muqawama.” Founded on the idea that Islam is a resisting religion, whose real heroes are the poor populations who have finally decided to take action, Hezbollah has shifted its focus to advocate for social justice issues and to attract ordinary activists to its cause. From the mid-1990s on, Hezbollah has built alliances that allow it to pursue soft power in Lebanon, fighting against both the dominant Shi‘ite elites and the Maronite-Sunni, as well as Israeli and US influence in the region. Kanaaneh argues that this perpetual resistance—military as well as cultural and political—is fundamental to Hezbollah’s continued success.