Understanding Shiite Leadership: the Art of the Middle Ground in Iran and Lebanon Shaul Mishal and Ori Goldberg Frontmatter More Information

Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-04638-2 - Understanding Shiite Leadership: The Art of the Middle Ground in Iran and Lebanon Shaul Mishal and Ori Goldberg Frontmatter More information

Understanding Shiite Leadership

In this book, Shaul Mishal and Ori Goldberg explore the ways in which Shiite leaderships in Iran and Lebanon approach themselves and their world. Contrary to the violent and radical image of religious leaderships in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Lebanese Hizballah, the political vision and practice of these leaderships view the world as a “middle ground,” shying away from absolutist and extremist tendencies. The political leadership assumed by Shiite religious scholars in Iran and Lebanon has transformed Shiite Islam from a marginalized minority to a highly politicized avant garde of Muslim presence, revitalized the practice and causes of political Islam in its struggle for legitimacy and authority, and reshaped the politics of both the Middle East and the globe in its image. Utilizing approaches from social theory, history, theology, and literary criticism, the book presents these leaderships as pragmatic, interpretative entities with the potential to form fruitful relationships between Shiite leadership and the non-Shiite world.

Shaul Mishal is Professor of Political Science at Tel Aviv University and at the School of Government, IDC Herzlia. He is a Visiting Professor at Yale University, Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard, and Senior Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health. He has authored and coauthored several books on Palestinian issues, including West Bank/East Bank , The PLO under Arafat , Speaking Stones with R. Aharoni , The Palestinian Hamas with A. Sela, and Investment in Peace with R. Kuperman and D. Boas. Mishal has authored numerous articles, which have appeared in many leading journals. He received his PhD in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Ori Goldberg teaches in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. He is the author of Shi’i Theology in Iran: The Challenge of Religious Experience and Thinking Shi’a , a col- lection of lectures examining Shiite culture, politics, and consciousness from various perspectives. Dr. Goldberg’s research focuses on the com- parative study of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish theological thought; Middle East politics and culture; and the critical role of religious thought in social theory and practice. He received his PhD in Middle Eastern History from Tel Aviv University.

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PROBLEMS OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Series Editors: Keith Darden , Yale University Ian Shapiro , Yale University

The series seeks manuscripts central to the understanding of international politics that will be empirically rich and conceptually innovative. It is interested in works that illu- minate the evolving character of nation-states within the international system. It sets out three broad areas for investigation: (1) identity, security, and confl ict; (2) democracy; and (3) justice and distribution.

Titles in the Series: SÇ ener Akt ürk , Regimes of Ethnicity and Nationhood in Germany, Russia, and Turkey Donald Horowitz , Constitutional Change and Democracy in Indonesia Adria K. Lawrence , Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way , Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War Tarek Masoud , Counting Islam: Religion, Class, and Elections in Egypt Harris Mylonas , The Politics of Nation-Building: Making Co-Nationals, Refugees, and Minorities

For Arnon, Mira, Nazima, and Yehezkel, Our roots.

Understanding Shiite Leadership The Art of the Middle Ground in Iran and Lebanon

SHAUL MISHAL Tel Aviv University

ORI GOLDBERG Tel Aviv University

32 Avenue of the Americas, New York , NY 10013-2473, USA

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107046382 © Shaul Mishal and Ori Goldberg 2014 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2014 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Mishal, Shaul, 1945– Understanding Shiite leadership : the art of the middle ground in Iran and Lebanon / Shaul Mishal, Tel Aviv University; Ori Goldberg, Tel Aviv University. pages cm – (Problems of international politics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-107-04638-2 (hardback) 1. Shiites – Political activity – Iran. 2. Shi’ah – Political aspects – Iran. 3. Political leadership – Iran. 4. Islam and politics – Iran. 5. Iran – Politics and government – 1997– 6. Shiites – Political activity – Lebanon. 7. Shi’ah – Political aspects – Lebanon. 8. Political leadership – Lebanon. 9. Islam and politics – Lebanon. 10. Political culture – Lebanon. 11. Lebanon – Politics and government – 1990– I. Goldberg, Ori. II. Title. JQ 1789. A 15 M 57 2014 320.955–dc23 2014002046

ISBN 978-1-107-04638-2 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URL s for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Contents

Acknowledgments page ix

Introduction 1 1 Leadership as Interpretation 11 2 The Quest for Authority 21 3 Void and Spaces 34 4 Khomeini’s Middle Ground 43 5 Forming the Middle Ground: Intra-Shiite Issues 55 6 Seeking the Middle Ground: Extra-Shiite Issues 71 7 The Struggle for the Middle Ground: The 2009 (and 2013) Presidential Elections 83 8 Middle Ground as Resistance: Lebanese Hizballah 99 9 HB and the Temperate City 116

Epilogue: Shiite Leadership and the Emergence of the Middle Ground Regime 135 Glossary 139 Bibliography 143 Index 153

vii

Acknowledgments

Our joint endeavor, which has been a while in the making, has benefi ted from the help of several devoted friends and colleagues. We are indebted to Jim Leitner for his generosity and interest. Ian Shapiro, of Yale University, shep- herded this project from its inception. We received invaluable assistance from Raz Zimmt, Yair Samban, and Sofi a Weibull. Eliran Bar-El saw us through the fi nal stages of the process, offering both sage advice and tireless dedication. Without Lewis Bateman, our editor at Cambridge University Press, his assistant, Shaun Vigil, and the three anonymous readers, this book would be completely different: less coherent, more complicated. Each in his or her own way reminded us that dreams require persistence and responsibility.