Understanding Hezbollah: The Hegemony of Resistance

The essence of Muqawama -- The shattered hegemony & the beginning of Hezbollah -- The Muqawama thought: intellectual roots of Hezbollah's resistance -- The Muqawama of Hezbollah: components of the project -- The Muqawama as a counter-hegemonic project.

"This book is concerned with the activism of the Lebanese Hizbullah movement towards strengthening its status in the Lebanese arena. It focuses on the Hizbullah's contribution to the development of the concept of Muqawamah (resistance) as part of a counter-hegemonic project"--

Over the last three decades, Hezbollah has developed from a small radical organization into a major player in the Lebanese, regional, and even international political arenas. Its influence in military issues is well known, but its role in shaping cultural and political activities has not received enough attention. Kanaaneh sheds new light on the organization's successful evolution as a counterhegemonic force in the region's resistance movement, known as "Muqawama." Founded on the idea that Islam is a resisting religion, whose real heroes are the poor populations who have finally decided to take action, Hezbollah has shifted its focus to advocate for social justice issues and to attract ordinary activists to its cause. From the mid-1990s on, Hezbollah has built alliances that allow it to pursue soft power in Lebanon, fighting against both the dominant Shi'ite elites and the Maronite-Sunni, as well as Israeli and US influence in the region. Kanaaneh argues that this perpetual resistance—military as well as cultural and political—is fundamental to Hezbollah's continued success.