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Hezbollah: Mobilization and Power
Almost thirty years after its foundation, Lebanese Hezbollah remains an organization difficult to understand. An Islamist terrorist group dedicated to destroying Israel or the first Arab national Resistance to have ever defeated Tel-Aviv's troops, a patriotic and respectable party or a fascist network having managed to control all levers of Lebanese political life... what exactly is Hezbollah? How did it acquire such an important role in the Middle-Eastern game and in Lebanese politics?
This book has three purposes. It first gives an articulated definition of Hezbollah, presenting a thorough history of the party, describing its well-built internal structure, and the large scope of its social and political action. It then explains the evolution of the party's mobilization. Finally, it illustrates another path, political but mainly identity-related, that of the Shiite community, today the main constituent of Lebanese society.
Through a rigorous and richly documented study, mainly based on primary sources, amongst which hundreds of interviews with rank and file members, executives and officials of the party, and research material never examined before, the author unveils brand new aspects of this organization, thus completing, in a clear and efficient manner, our understanding of both the "Hezbollah phenomenon" and Lebanese politics of the last two decades.
This book has three purposes. It first gives an articulated definition of Hezbollah, presenting a thorough history of the party, describing its well-built internal structure, and the large scope of its social and political action. It then explains the evolution of the party's mobilization. Finally, it illustrates another path, political but mainly identity-related, that of the Shiite community, today the main constituent of Lebanese society.
Through a rigorous and richly documented study, mainly based on primary sources, amongst which hundreds of interviews with rank and file members, executives and officials of the party, and research material never examined before, the author unveils brand new aspects of this organization, thus completing, in a clear and efficient manner, our understanding of both the "Hezbollah phenomenon" and Lebanese politics of the last two decades.
445 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 5, 2024
Extremely valuable: a richly detailed account of Hezbollah's origins, development, organization and leadership, role in Lebanese and regional politics, and most importantly, the nature and sources of its popular appeal; Daher's personal experience also allows her to provide a vivid portrait of the Lebanese Shi'a world from which the movement comes.
December 31, 2024
good shit
October 20, 2024
#NonfictionGeek
#Bookreview
𝐇𝐞𝐳𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐡 𝐛𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐫é𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫
(Mobilisation And Power)
An extensive amount of Work on Hezbollah by French Journalist. She remained in Lebanon for quite a few years to examine and read about the unraveling of events and the impact of organizations on them. This book will enlighten you about the geography and ethnic diversity of Lebanon.
The organizational structure of Hezbollah is quite interesting to me, specifically in terms of work in media, radio, construction, rehabilitation, and incentive-based.
There is one chapter on the leadership of Hassan Nasrullah. That was quite a fantastic read about the mesmerizing personality of an Organisation leader.
#Highly Recommended!
#Thanks
#Bookreview
𝐇𝐞𝐳𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐡 𝐛𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐫é𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫
(Mobilisation And Power)
An extensive amount of Work on Hezbollah by French Journalist. She remained in Lebanon for quite a few years to examine and read about the unraveling of events and the impact of organizations on them. This book will enlighten you about the geography and ethnic diversity of Lebanon.
The organizational structure of Hezbollah is quite interesting to me, specifically in terms of work in media, radio, construction, rehabilitation, and incentive-based.
There is one chapter on the leadership of Hassan Nasrullah. That was quite a fantastic read about the mesmerizing personality of an Organisation leader.
#Highly Recommended!
#Thanks
December 18, 2024
A phenomenal resource. Especially now. I am writing in December 2024, a couple months after the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's charismatic leader, and directly after the shut-down of the organization's supply line through Syria with the end of the Assad regime. The United States foreign policy community is filled with joy, and is busy making fevered pronouncements about the "fluidity" of the Middle East in this moment, and the assumption that Hezbollah is fully defeated.
This book provides a useful corrective. Daher has used her broad knowledge of Shia Lebanon, and her expertise as an academic to provide a deep analysis of Hezbollah, its origins, and its activities over 35 years. Daher emphasizes Hezbollah's rootedness in Lebanon's marginalized Shia community and the appeal that it has to other audiences in Lebanon. Hezbollah has been deeply wounded. The book has a whole chapter on the power and appeal of the recently assassinated Nasrallah. But Daher's account of the many obstacles Hezbollah has already surmounted makes me think that Washington, DC is counting them out too early. The Israeli military may have already discovered this. In early October many anticipated that they would be able to take wide swathes of Lebanese territory, and the decapitated Hezbollah kept that from happening.
Daher's book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the emergence of Hezbollah, and its victorious struggle against Israel. There are many strands that need to be drawn together in the emergence of the organization, and its clandestine fight, that are treated less chronologically. The 2nd part of the book is more of a straightforward narrative of the years 2000-2015, as Hezbollah, unified under Nasrallah's strong leadership, took a larger role in Lebanese government and international affairs. Both parts of the book are very useful and enlightening.
As is always the case when I read about Lebanon, I am gobsmacked by the levels of corruption and incompetence exhibited by every Lebanese political actor other than Hezbollah. Any close reading of Lebanese history will also fill the reader with contempt for all of the outside actors who involve themselves in Lebanon, both those who see Hezbollah as terrorists, and those who support them. Daher never explicitly makes the case, but her detailed narrative of Lebanese events makes it clear how desperate a lot of the Lebanese public, not just the Shia, must be for the baseline competence and comparative lack of corruption that Hezbollah offers.
It may be possible to argue that Daher is too close to the problem, and in parts too sympathetic to Hezbollah. As someone who has a baseline familiarity with the events described, I don't think that's the case. Her rootedness in Lebanon's Shia community has provided her access to useful information that far outweighs any bias she may have. There are certainly Hezbollah actions that I would question more than she does, such as the choice to continue the fight after throwing out the Israeli occupiers in 2000, but Daher is an academic first and foremost, and doesn't spend a lot of time celebrating or condemning anybody's actions.
My other quibbles with the book are minor. The fact that the book is almost a decade old is a bit of an issue. A fuller reckoning with Hezbollah's choice to spend so many resources on the now fallen Assad regime may have changed the character of the book. The translation from French is a bit wooden in parts as well. This is most challenging in the beginning in the end of the book, where Daher engages in some (also very French) heavy theorizing that comes off as a little clunky in English. For the majority of the book, and its straightforward, invaluable description, the translation is more than adequate.
This book provides a useful corrective. Daher has used her broad knowledge of Shia Lebanon, and her expertise as an academic to provide a deep analysis of Hezbollah, its origins, and its activities over 35 years. Daher emphasizes Hezbollah's rootedness in Lebanon's marginalized Shia community and the appeal that it has to other audiences in Lebanon. Hezbollah has been deeply wounded. The book has a whole chapter on the power and appeal of the recently assassinated Nasrallah. But Daher's account of the many obstacles Hezbollah has already surmounted makes me think that Washington, DC is counting them out too early. The Israeli military may have already discovered this. In early October many anticipated that they would be able to take wide swathes of Lebanese territory, and the decapitated Hezbollah kept that from happening.
Daher's book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the emergence of Hezbollah, and its victorious struggle against Israel. There are many strands that need to be drawn together in the emergence of the organization, and its clandestine fight, that are treated less chronologically. The 2nd part of the book is more of a straightforward narrative of the years 2000-2015, as Hezbollah, unified under Nasrallah's strong leadership, took a larger role in Lebanese government and international affairs. Both parts of the book are very useful and enlightening.
As is always the case when I read about Lebanon, I am gobsmacked by the levels of corruption and incompetence exhibited by every Lebanese political actor other than Hezbollah. Any close reading of Lebanese history will also fill the reader with contempt for all of the outside actors who involve themselves in Lebanon, both those who see Hezbollah as terrorists, and those who support them. Daher never explicitly makes the case, but her detailed narrative of Lebanese events makes it clear how desperate a lot of the Lebanese public, not just the Shia, must be for the baseline competence and comparative lack of corruption that Hezbollah offers.
It may be possible to argue that Daher is too close to the problem, and in parts too sympathetic to Hezbollah. As someone who has a baseline familiarity with the events described, I don't think that's the case. Her rootedness in Lebanon's Shia community has provided her access to useful information that far outweighs any bias she may have. There are certainly Hezbollah actions that I would question more than she does, such as the choice to continue the fight after throwing out the Israeli occupiers in 2000, but Daher is an academic first and foremost, and doesn't spend a lot of time celebrating or condemning anybody's actions.
My other quibbles with the book are minor. The fact that the book is almost a decade old is a bit of an issue. A fuller reckoning with Hezbollah's choice to spend so many resources on the now fallen Assad regime may have changed the character of the book. The translation from French is a bit wooden in parts as well. This is most challenging in the beginning in the end of the book, where Daher engages in some (also very French) heavy theorizing that comes off as a little clunky in English. For the majority of the book, and its straightforward, invaluable description, the translation is more than adequate.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews