The Parallel State: Assessing the Rise and Contemporary Role of Hezbollah in Lebanon

Author

Matthew Caito, Bard CollegeFollow

Date of Submission

Spring 2020

Academic Program

Global and International Studies

Project Advisor 1

Frederic Hof

Abstract/Artist's Statement

This paper examines the evolution of Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah in the context of its present status as the international vanguard of an expansionist Iranian project. It discusses the emergent polity the group was born into and demonstrates how Lebanon’s descent into Civil War in 1975 and its flawed postwar political system aided and abetted Hezbollah’s rise to power. In exploring the mechanisms by which Hezbollah was able to wed its military power to emerging state structures, the paper aims to explain how in this increased the group’s power and reach in the short-term but created significant vulnerabilities in the long-term. Today, Hezbollah faces political unrest in Lebanon, an unending intervention in Syria, and a shortage of funds from its globally ostracized patron, Iran. As a consequence of its parasitic relationship to the Lebanese state, it is unable to escape intimate association on the part of Lebanese reformists with government corruption. Meanwhile, its international interventions have cost it lives and popular support. The paper discusses what steps Hezbollah can take to address its current challenges, and offers policy recommendations by which Hezbollah’s state opponents can limit its ability to do so.

Open Access Agreement

On-Campus only

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Caito, Matthew, "The Parallel State: Assessing the Rise and Contemporary Role of Hezbollah in Lebanon" (2020). Senior Projects Spring 2020. 67.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2020/67