Relational Radicalisation and Deradicalisation Within Movement Parties: Case Study of Lebanese Hezbollah

Abstract

This thesis seeks to develop a holistic approach to examine Hezbollah’s transformation(s) in terms of a repertoire of armed and unarmed tactics. More specifically, through a relational sociology and a mechanism-based approach, the following chapters will discuss how collective radicalisation and deradicalisation processes occur within Hezbollah. Within this theoretical framework, social reality is interpreted in dynamic, fluid and processual terms; consequently, radicalisation and deradicalisation are processes that develop out of multiple, complex webs of relational dynamics during contentious politics across time and space. The main argument is that Hezbollah’s repertoire of armed and unarmed tactics is the result of complex radicalisation and deradicalisation processes depending on the party’s position vis-a-vis five arenas of interactions which change in response to time and milieu. The arenas of interactions include (1) the political environment, (2) security forces, (3) intra- group dynamics, (4) counter-movement and (5) the public.

In line with the so-called Beirut School of Critical Security Studies, this research seeks to de-orientalise the study of political violence, thus overcoming the religious terrorism paradigm. Second, it aims to elaborate a framework that allows the study of political violence, including terrorism, without labelling a movement as terrorist. Third, it aims to bring back the concepts of temporality and contextuality because Hezbollah’s use of armed or unarmed activism is deeply influenced by four notions that change over time and circumstances: namely interest (maslaha); necessity (darura); reasoning (ijtihad); and contextual specificities (khususiyya).