Hezbollah after the Lebanese Civil War - How the Taif Agreement Created a window of opportunity for the continued existence of the "Party of God"
Author
Taha, Jihad Mohammed
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2016
Submitted on
2016-06-30
Abstract
Specialet undersøger Hezbollah i tiden efter den libanesiske borgerkrig (1975-1990). Det fokuserer på centrale begivenheder, især Taif-aftalen fra 1989, som styrkede Syriens tilstedeværelse i Libanon og dermed en vigtig allieret for Hezbollah, mens andre libanesiske fraktioner stadig var svækket af krigen. Samtidig trak Hezbollah på støtte fra Iran og udnyttede den fortsatte israelske besættelse af store dele af det sydlige Libanon til at opbygge en stærk folkelig base. Bevægelsen leverede sociale ydelser, der udfyldte et tomrum efterladt af staten, hvilket styrkede legitimiteten og organisationens netværk. For at belyse forholdet mellem Hezbollah og den libanesiske stat anvender studiet Joel Migdals state-in-society-teori, som undersøger, hvordan staten og samfundsaktører påvirker og former hinanden. Formålet er at vurdere, om Taif-aftalen var et vendepunkt i udviklingen af Hezbollah fra en modstandsbevægelse til en af Mellemøstens vigtigste ikke-statslige aktører (en indflydelsesrig organisation uden for statens formelle institutioner).
This thesis explores Hezbollah in the period after the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). It focuses on key events that enabled the group's emergence and persistence, especially the 1989 Taif Agreement, which increased Syria's presence in Lebanon and thus strengthened an important Hezbollah ally, while many other Lebanese factions remained weakened by years of fighting. At the same time, support from Iran and the continued Israeli occupation of large parts of southern Lebanon created conditions Hezbollah used to build a strong popular base. The movement provided social services that filled gaps left by the state, bolstering its legitimacy and network. To examine how Hezbollah interacted with and competed with the Lebanese state, the study applies Joel Migdal's state-in-society theory, which looks at how states and social forces shape one another. The goal is to assess whether the Taif Agreement marked a turning point in Hezbollah's development, from a resistance movement into one of the Middle East's most important non-state actors (an influential organization outside formal state institutions).
[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]
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