The Case of Hezbollah in Lebanon by Mohamad Ibrahim BA, Lebanese
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Survival through restrained institutionalization: The case of Hezbollah in Lebanon by Mohamad Ibrahim B.A., Lebanese American University, 2017 A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS Department of Security Studies College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2019 Approved by: Major Professor Dr. Carla Martinez-Machain Copyright © Mohamad Ibrahim 2019. Abstract This thesis is an in-depth exploration of the evolving nature of domestic strategies adopted by Lebanon’s Hezbollah since its foundation in 1985 until the contemporary time. Based on Joel Migdal’s contributions to the literature on state-society relations, and Samuel Huntington’s understanding of institutionalization, it seeks to highlight and explain important transformations in Hezbollah’s political program, its sustained acquisition of arms, its social mobilization strategy, and its sensitive relationship with a de jure sovereign yet de facto weak Lebanese consociational system. The study proposes an explanation that combines Hezbollah’s ability to take advantage of the segmental autonomy that characterizes the power-sharing arrangements governing the Lebanese political system, and the overall existing political opportunity structure. The core argument is that Hezbollah has been able to become a powerful non-state actor through a process of restrained institutionalization which takes into consideration the need to sustain popular support on one hand, and the sensitive intricacies of Lebanon’s consociational system on the other hand. In other words, Hezbollah has invested its capacities in a way that maximizes its power in the existing political system, while remaining institutionally autonomous to a relative extent from it, and therefore becoming able to pursue its independent interests. However, the line demarcating the boundaries between Hezbollah and the Lebanese government has become finer. That said, study also aims to address the conceptual ambiguity resulting from Hezbollah’s penetration of the Lebanese political system, thus becoming a hybrid actor whose power encompasses both state and non-state attributes. iii Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vi List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... viii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Literature Review............................................................................................................................ 4 Motive ........................................................................................................................................... 14 Theoretical Tripod ........................................................................................................................ 17 A) State-in-Society Model: ....................................................................................................... 17 B) Institutionalization: .............................................................................................................. 18 C) Political Opportunity Structure: ........................................................................................... 21 D) Knitting All the Threads Together: ..................................................................................... 24 Research Strategy.......................................................................................................................... 26 A) Issues of Conceptualization and Operationalization: .......................................................... 26 B) Methods ............................................................................................................................... 28 C) A Discussion of the Approach’s Strengths: ......................................................................... 30 D) A Discussion of the Approach’s Shortcomings: .................................................................. 32 Historical Background on Shiite Political Mobilization and Hezbollah’s Emergence ................. 35 Empirical Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 41 I. Foundational Stage (1985*-1990)- Hezbollah as a Latecomer to War-torn Lebanon .......... 42 A) Hezbollah, the State, and Society: ................................................................................... 43 B) The Hezbollah-Syria-Iran Triangle: ................................................................................. 53 C) Brief Summary and Closing Remarks: ............................................................................ 59 II. Experimental stage (1991-2000): Hezbollah’s Evolution and Exploration of Domestic Politics: ..................................................................................................................................... 61 A) From Lebanese Civil War to Post-war Syrian Hegemony: ............................................. 61 B) Into the Game of Politics: Hezbollah’s Strategic Adjustments in Post-War Lebanon: ... 65 C) Summary and Discussion: ................................................................................................ 81 III. Confrontational Stage (2000-2009): Hezbollah in An Environment of Conflict ............... 83 iv A) Israel Withdraws, Hezbollah Celebrates:......................................................................... 84 B) Syria Withdraws, Hezbollah Reacts: ............................................................................... 89 C) The July 2006 War: .......................................................................................................... 97 D) Consolidation through Violence: May 2008 Crisis and Doha Accords ........................ 104 E) Summary and Discussion: .............................................................................................. 110 IV. Continuity and Change in Hezbollah’s Domestic Strategy (2011 – today): .................... 111 A) Into the Syrian Crisis: .................................................................................................... 112 B) Hezbollah and the Dilemma of Domestic Power: .......................................................... 117 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 122 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 125 v List of Figures Figure 1: Elements of Social Control (Migdal, 1988) .................................................................. 26 Figure 2: Indicators of Institutionalization (Huntington, 1968) .................................................... 27 Figure 3: Pillars of Consociationalism (Lijphart, 1977) ............................................................... 27 vi List of Abbreviations FPM: Free Patriotic Movement FTO: Foreign Terrorist Organization GCC: Gulf Cooperation Council GCL: Grand Confederation of Labor HIFPAA: Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act IDF: Israeli Defense Forces IRGC: Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps IRSO: Islamic Resistance Support Organization ISIL: Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant LAF: Lebanese Armed Forces LCP: Lebanese Communist Party LNM: Lebanese National Movement LNRF: Lebanese National Resistance Front LRB: Lebanese Resistance Brigades MB: Muslim Brotherhood MNF: Multinational Forces MoU: Memorandum of Understanding PLO: Palestinian Liberation Organization PR: Proportional Representation QSG: Qornet Chehwan Gathering SG: Secretary-General SLA: South Lebanon Army SSNP: Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party STL: Special Tribunal for Lebanon TBCC: Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination UN: United Nations US: United States UNSCR: United Nations Security Council Resolution vii Acknowledgements First, I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Carla Martinez-Machain, for her valuable efforts and support in my MA Thesis research. It was during a course I attended under her supervision that I came to delve into the literature on non-state actors. The feedback she provided was insightful, critical, and straightforward. Also, I would like to thank my thesis committee members, Dr. Jeffrey Pickering and Dr. Andrew Long, for their helpful comments and timely recommendations that significantly improved this project. Besides my committee, I am grateful for the Fulbright Foreign Student Program, through which I had the opportunity to pursue my graduate degree at Kansas State University. I am also delighted to mention Dr. Bassel Salloukh, Associate Professor at the Lebanese American University, whose excellent perspective and interesting lectures still resonate in my memory. Lastly but most importantly, this work wouldn’t have been accomplished without the endless support of my family and friends, in Lebanon and beyond. They always