No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Beyond Identity: What Explains Hezbollah's Popularity among Non-Shi‘a Lebanese?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 March 2021
Abstract
This study delves into how non-Shi‘a Lebanese assess Hezbollah and its activities. Having provided empirical evidence that Hezbollah has garnered positive perception in Lebanon, it asks what explains a substantial increase or decrease in favorable attitudes toward Hezbollah among Christians, Sunnis, and Druze? It argues that those who perceive Hezbollah as a resistance organization, as it often describes itself; the political alliance across sectarian groups; as well as insecurity caused by armed groups such as Sunni militant groups and ISIS, all combine to moderate people's views toward Hezbollah. Using an original, nationally representative face-to-face survey in Lebanon in 2015 and employing a multivariate statistical method, it finds that those who hold unfavorable views of the United States, those who support the political alliance of which Hezbollah is part, and those who support the Assad regime in Syria are likely to have a positive perception of Hezbollah and or its activities in the region.
- Type
- Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association
Footnotes
1.
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/07/01/concerns-about-islamic-extremism-on-the-rise-in-middle-east/pg-2014-07-01-islamic-extremism-07/. The decreases in its popularity in Sunni majority countries such as Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey have been substantial. For example, the unfavorable views toward Hezbollah from 2007 to 2014 have increased from 41 to 83% in Egypt, 44 to 81% in Jordan, and 75 to 85% in Turkey.
*
We appreciate two excellent anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. In the earlier iterations of this paper, Carla Abdo-Katsipis, Bruce Rutherford, David Siddhartha Patel, Ora Szekely, and Nils Hagerdal provided valuable feedbacks and suggestions at the 13th Annual Northeast Middle East Politics Working Group (NEMEPWG), convened at Hamilton College, NY.
References
Avon, Dominique, and Khatchadourian, Anais Trissa. 2012. A History of the “Party of God”. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Baroudi, Sami E, and Tabar, Paul. 2009. “Spiritual Authority versus Secular Authority: Relations Between the Maronite Church and the State in Postwar Lebanon: 1990–2005.” Middle East Critique 18(3):195–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belge, Ceren, and Karakoç, Ekrem. 2015. “Minorities in the Middle East: Ethnicity, Religion, and Support for Authoritarianism.” Political Research Quarterly 68(2):280–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cammett, Melani, and Issar, Sukriti. 2010. “Bricks and Mortar Clientelism: Sectarianism and the Logics of Welfare Allocation in Lebanon.” World Politics 62(3):381–421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ciftci, Sabri. 2013. “Social Identity and Attitudes Toward Foreign Policy: Evidence from a Youth Survey in Turkey.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 45(1):25–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daher, Joseph. 2016. Hezbollah: The Political Economy of Lebanon's Party of God. London: Pluto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daher, Joseph. 2020. “Hezbollah, Neoliberalism and Political Economy.” Politics and Religion 13(4):719–747.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daily Star. (2012) “Nasrallah Accuses March 14 of Arming Syrian Opposition.” 16 February.Google Scholar
El Husseini, Rola. 2010. “Hezbollah and the Axis of Refusal: Hamas, Iran and Syria.” Third World Quarterly 31(5):803–815.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghosn, Faten, and Khoury, Amal 2011. “Lebanon after the civil war: peace or the illusion of peace?” The Middle East Journal 65(3):381–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddad, Simon. 2001. “A Survey of Maronite Christian Socio-Political Attitudes in Postwar Lebanon.” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 12(4):465–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddad, Simon. 2005. “A Survey of Lebanese Shi‘i Attitudes towards Hezbollah.” Small Wars and Insurgencies 16(3):317–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddad, Simon. 2006. “The Origins of Popular Support for Lebanon's Hezbollah.” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 29(1):21–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddad, Simon. 2013. “What Leads Some Lebanese Shiis to Support Hizballah?” Comparative Strategy 32(1):71–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamzeh, A Nizar. 1993. “Lebanon's Hizbullah: From Islamic Revolution to Parliamentary Accommodation.” Third World Quarterly 14(2):321–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamzeh, A Nizar. 2000. “Lebanon's Islamists and Local Politics: A New Reality.” Third World Quarterly 21(5):739–759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harb, Mona, and Leenders, Reinoud. 2005. “Know Thy Enemy: Hizbullah, ‘Terrorism’ and the Politics of Perception.” Third World Quarterly 26(1):173–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harik, Judith Palmer. 2005. Hezbollah: The Changing Face of Terrorism. London: IB Tauris.Google Scholar
Hokayem, Emile. 2007. “Hizballah and Syria: Outgrowing the Proxy Relationship.” The Washington Quarterly 30(2):35–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hourani, Najib B. 2013. “Lebanon: Hybrid Sovereignties and US Foreign Policy.” Middle East Policy 20(1):39–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. NY: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group 2014. “Lebanon's Hizbollah Turns Eastward to Syria.” Middle East Report 153, May 27.Google Scholar
Jones, Seth G., and Markusen, Maxwell B.. 2018. The Escalating Conflict with Hezbollah in Syria. Washington DC: CSIS Briefs.Google Scholar
Kadivar, Jamileh. 2020. “Exploring Takfir, Its Origins and Contemporary Use: The Case of Takfiri Approach in Daesh's Media.” Contemporary Review of the Middle East 4(3):259–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Köse, Talha, Özcan, Mesut, and Karakoç, Ekrem. 2016. “A Comparative Analysis of Soft Power in the MENA Region: The Impact of Ethnic, Sectarian, and Religious Identity on Soft Power in Iraq and Egypt.” Foreign Policy Analysis 12(3):354–373.Google Scholar
McCallum, Fiona. 2007. “The Political Role of the Patriarch in the Contemporary Middle East.” Middle Eastern Studies 43(6):923–940.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nilsson, Marco. 2018. “Primary Unit Cohesion among the Peshmerga and Hezbollah.” Armed Forces and Society 44(4):647–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norton, Augustus Richard. 2014. Hezbollah: A Short History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearlman, Wendy. 2013. “Emigration and Power: A Study of Sects in Lebanon, 1860–2010.” Politics and Society 41(1):103–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, Christopher, and Valbjorn, Morten. 2018. “‘What is in a Name’?: The Role of (Different) Identities in the Multiple Proxy Wars in Syria.” Small Wars and Insurgencies 29(3):414–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salloukh, Bassel F. 2017. “The Syrian War: Spillover Effects on Lebanon.” Middle East Policy 24(1): 62–78.Google Scholar
Saouli, Adham. 2011. “Hizbullah in the Civilising Process: Anarchy, Self-Restraint and Violence.” Third World Quarterly 32(5):925–942.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saouli, Adham. 2014. “Intellectuals and Political Power in Social Movements: The Parallel Paths of Fadlallah and Hizbullah.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 41(1):97–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szekely, Ora. 2017. The Politics of Militant Group Survival in the Middle East. Cham: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tajfel, Henri. 1981. Human groups and social categories: Studies in social psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Telhami, Shibley. 2013. The World Through Arab Eyes: Arab Public Opinion and the Reshaping of the Middle East. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Tokdemir, Efe, 2020. “Feels Like Home: Effect of Transnational Identities on Attitudes Towards Foreign Countries.” Journal of Peace Research 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343320943251.Google Scholar
Karakoç et al. supplementary material
Karakoç et al. supplementary material
File
60.7 KB