Hezbollah
and the Lebanese State
Reconciling
a National Strategy with a Regional Role
Ali Fayyad
After the withdrawal
of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April 2006, Hezbollah
felt compelled to join the government to ensure a balance
between the various Lebanese forces and protect Lebanon’s
vulnerable position in the regional equation. This paper
by the head of Hezbollah’s main think tank, asserts
that the movement is determined to abide by Lebanon’s
democratic political system based on the rule of
consensus, and to support a strong central state, a
transformation in the movement’s understanding of
the requirements of the Lebanese domestic balance and its
appreciation that internal stability is central to its
national project if it is to succeed in its pan-Arab and
Islamic mission.
While the national
dialogue started in spring, between all Lebanese factions
was making progress on issues of power sharing, divergent
views about foreign policy, first and foremost about the
strategy towards Israel and about regional alliances
constituted a major fault-line. On the eve of the war
with Israel, Hezbollah was arguing that the issue of its
armaments should be discussed within a broader debate on
a national defense strategy that addresses reciprocal
guarantees between Lebanese groups, and reconciles the resistance’s
defensive function with the State’s strategy of
regaining its sovereignty, away from external
influences. In a vision of “inter-related
balances” to which the leader of the movement sheikh
Hasan Nasrallah is committed, Hezbollah’s
contribution to the regional equation is an automatic
result of its achievements in the domestic national
arena. The Lebanese national interest is therefore the
main criterion that determines the movement’s
behaviour, and the contradiction between its domestic and
regional roles no longer exists. In the aftermath of the
war with Israel, Hezbollah’s regional popularity has
grown beyond any expectations but the movement is
reasserting its attachment to its Lebanese national
agenda.
- To
read the full English version of the Arab Reform
Brief click here:
http://www.arab-reform.net/article.php3?id_article=274
- ARI
welcomes comments and suggestions
The
Arab Reform Initiative is a consortium of fifteen key
policy research centers from the Arab world with partners
from Europe and the United States, working to mobilize
the Arab research capacity to advance knowledge and
promote a home grown program for democratic reform.
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