The Shifts in Hizbullah's Ideology: Religious Ideology, Political Ideology and Political Program

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Amsterdam University Press, 2006 - Religion - 380 pages

As the recent war in Lebanon demonstrated, an understanding of the Lebanese Shi‘ite militant group Hizbullah remains an important component of any attempt to solve the problems of the Middle East. The Shifts in Hizbullah’s Ideology provides an in-depth analysis of the group’s motivations, tracking the changes it has undergone since Hizbullah’s founding by Lebanese Shi‘ite clergy in 1978. Joseph Alagha demonstrates that Hizbullah, driven at its founding chiefly by religious concerns, in the latter half of the 1980s became a full-fledged social movement, with a structure and ideology aimed at social change. Further changes in the 1990s led to Hizbullah’s becoming a mainstream political party—but without surrendering its militarism or willingness to use violence to advance its ends.
            In tracking these changes, The Shifts in Hizbullah’s Ideology covers such disparate topics as Hizbullah’s views of jihad, suicide and martyrdom, integration, pan-Islamism, anti-Zionism, and the relationship with Israel and the United States. It will be necessary reading for both scholars and policymakers.
 

Contents

Acknowledgements
9
Prologue
11
Preface
13
1 A Survey of Hizbullahs History 1978 2005
19
2 The Saliency of Hizbullahs Religious Ideology 197819845
69
3 The Prominence of Hizbullahs Political Ideology 198451990
115
4 Primacy to Political Program 1991 to 2005
149
5 A Specific Perspective on the General Shifts
191
Conclusion and Implications
207
7 Appendices
221
Notes
317
English Summary
373
Dutch Summary Nederlandse samenvatting
377
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About the author (2006)

Joseph Alagha is assistant professor of Islamic studies at the Lebanese American University.

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