Hizbullah's DNA and The Arab Spring

Joseph Alagha

Hizbullah’s identity construction is an intelligent contribution to the academic debate on the dynamics of change in the political identity of Islamist movements; a process which is far from being concluded. Alagha’s reliance on a robust empirical basis and his analysis also of the most recent events make this study a valuable addition to the literature on the subject.

Alagha offers a comprehensive analysis of a socio-religious movement whose importance both within the larger field of Lebanese political and social life and with regard to continued conflict and the chances for peace in the Middle East cannot be overstated. The book has the potential to become a reference work on Hizbullah and socio-religious movements more broadly across the Middle East.

Alagha’s portrait of Hizbullah reveals an organisation that has gradually changed its identity and its policies, becoming more Lebanese and more political as it has had to cope with the harsh realities of the environment in which it operates. His discussion of “wilayat al-faqih” and the “New Manifesto” of 2009 will be particularly enlightening to most Western readers.

Joseph Alagha Joseph Alagha is Professor of Political Science at Haigazian University. He is the author of Hizbullah’s Identity Construction (2011), Hizbullah’s Documents (2011), and The Shifts in Hizbullah’s Ideology (2006), all published by Amsterdam University Press. Alagha is a prolific writer on Islamic movements and the democratisation and liberalisation processes in the Middle East and North Africa.