Armed Political Organizations: Hezbollah between Politics and Armed Resistance For Three Decades

4 
 
ARMED POLITICAL ORGANISATIONS: HEZBOLLAH BETWEEN POLITICS 
AND ARMED RESISTANCE FOR THREE DECADES 
Abstract 
The thesis focuses on armed political organisations and analyses the case of Hezbollah 
in Lebanon. Armed political organisations are non-state actors that simultaneously present an 
armed wing and a political party for a variable duration. The transformation from armed groups 
into armed political organisations is addressed through the process of institutionalisation. The 
process begins with creating a political wing and participating in the electoral competition 
(phase of transition); it ends with the disarmament and the transformation from armed political 
groups into only political parties (phase of consolidation).  
The research focuses on Hezbollah and its capacity to maintain a dual nature inside and 
outside the institutions for three decades, from its first entry into the Lebanese parliament in 
1992 until today. Hezbollah has refused to disarm, and according to the process of 
institutionalisation, it never accomplished the phase of consolidation. Notwithstanding this, it 
has been capable of maintaining solid its role within the institutions of Lebanon and increasing 
its relevance at the international level. Unlike Hamas, the refusal to withdraw arms has not 
prevented pursuing an institutional position. 
This work argues that the literature has scarcely addressed the factors that can favour 
the persistence of an armed political organisation. The co-existence of an armed wing and 
political party is often considered a temporary condition and not the outcome of the process. 
In the case of Hezbollah, it is assumed that the elements which allow the Lebanese actor to 
maintain its role as an armed political organisation for three decades are: (1) the capacity for 
ideological transformation, (2) the existence of a solid network within the Shi’i community and 
(3) the endemic dynamics of corruption within the institution of Lebanon. 
Additionally, this work retains that Hezbollah has acquired an increasing relevance at 
the regional and international levels by disorienting the international community with its 
ambiguous role inside and outside the institutions of Lebanon. In this regard, this work finally 
advances the possibility of the ineffectiveness of the terrorism approach on Hezbollah’s 
strategy. 
Key words: Hezbollah, armed political organisations, institutionalisation, Lebanon.
5 
Notes on the Arabic-original words translated into English: in this work, the most widespread 
and known form of the words has been used by referring to the transliteration guide and world 
list provided by the International Journal of Middle East studies accessible here: 
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-
studies/information/author-resources/ijmes-translation-and-transliteration-guide.
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Introduction 
The Middle East has been characterised earlier than other world regions by a vast, varied 
and particularly dense landscape of non-state actors. In particular, armed non-state actors 
(ANSAs), i.e., non-state groups with a military wing not integrated into regular national armies, 
have long been established in the region and have recently proliferated as a consequence of the 
contentious phenomena of 2011 and the collapse of regimes such as in Libya, Yemen, and 
Syria
1
. In virtue of this, an in-depth analysis based on the discernment of the components and 
the degrees of the evolution of these actors within the broad category of ANSAs is fundamental.  
This work observes a particular evolution of ANSAs: non-state actors that enter the 
institutions while maintaining both an armed wing and a political party.  Some non-state groups 
have manifested the willingness and the capacity to enter the institutions of a country through 
the electoral competition and at the same time to maintain an anti-systemic posture with the 
refusal to dismantle the armed wing. In virtue of this dual nature, these actors can be referred 
to as armed political organisations.  
Considering conflict scenarios or post-conflict settlements, armed political 
organisations are not new. The terror activities of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) combined 
with the political strategy of Sinn Féin have lasted for decades. The IRA operated clandestinely, 
opposing the British state until a compromise to end the hostilities was found and disarmament 
was accepted. Armed political organisations have also been crucial in pre-state phases. Before 
the creation of the state of Israel, the Hebrew militias Haganah and Irgun maintained a 
symbiotic strategy with the political parties Mapai and Herut until they merged into the Israeli 
Defence Forces (IDF) and submitted to the authority of the newborn state.  
The condition researched in this work is that of an armed political organisation that 
becomes part of a country's institutional fabric without dismantling the armed wing. In this 
case, the dual nature is not a temporary condition, nor it is a strategy in a conflict between the 
group and the state. This research focuses on the case of Hezbollah. The maintenance of an 
armed wing and a political party in Hezbollah is protracted over time and integrated into the 
institutions of a democratic country. Since it participated in the Lebanese elections of 1992, 
Hezbollah has maintained both the two components: the political side and the military wing. 
Hezbollah formed against the state of Lebanon, subtracting from it more prominent and more 
significant portions of authority, and then becoming part and modifying the state itself. Over 
four decades (1982-2022), the Lebanese militia underwent multiple ideological and structural 
 
1
 Darwich, M. “Foreign Policy Analysis and Armed Non-State Actors in World Politics: Lessons from the 
Middle East” in Foreign Policy Analysis, Vol.17/No.4., Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2021, p.4.
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transformations that allowed it to affirm not only as a national political actor but also as a 
regional power.  
The reason to explore Hezbollah as an armed political organisation is to provide a new 
perspective on studies about this organisation. This actor has been densely researched, but its 
continuous evolution always offers new fascinating angles to research. Depending on the side 
one is analysing, Hezbollah can simultaneously correspond to a plurality of definitions. In this 
sense, it is retained that there is always the necessity of researching this actor in an attempt to 
grasp the complexity of its nature better.  
The aim of this work is twofold. From a political science perspective, it focuses on the 
institutionalisation of armed groups to identify a new possible degree of evolution. It explores 
the particular condition of the coexistence of an armed wing and a political party in the same 
actor for a variable duration. Referring to the case of Hezbollah, it analyses its process of 
transformation from a terror Shi’i militia to an armed political organisation and then the 
maintenance of a dual nature until today. Within the field of international relations, this work 
aims to problematise armed political organisations and, in particular, analyse the implications 
stemming from the increasing role of Hezbollah at the regional and international levels. The 
impossibility of pigeonholing Hezbollah in a single definition has implications also for the 
elaboration of an international security approach. Hence, the international relevance of this 
actor is remarkable. The war in Syria gives Hezbollah an international dimension by engaging 
in an armed conflict alongside national armies and acting as an autonomous critical player 
elaborating its own foreign policy. 
In the first chapter, the existing literature will be reviewed in detail. It will be shown 
how the co-existence of an armed wing and political party is often considered a temporary 
condition and not the final product of the process of institutionalisation. Hence, some works on 
the transition from armed struggle to institutions do not sufficiently study the maintenance of 
the combination of “bullets and ballots” over the years. The process is often referred to as the 
transformation from rebel to party and does not adequately explore the possibility of the rebel 
and party outcome
2
. Thereby, the necessity to answer some preliminary questions: what occurs 
when an armed group is engaged in political competition while maintaining an armed wing? 
What are the reasons behind the decision to enter the institutions? Why is it relevant to 
distinguish an armed political organisation from other non-state armed actors?  
 
2
 De Zeeuw, J. From Soldiers to Politicians: Transforming Rebel Movements after Civil War, Lynne Rienner 
Publishers, Boulder, 2008. p. 1.
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These questions will be addressed through the process of institutionalisation of armed groups. 
This model has been theorised by Van Engeland and Rudolph and accounted for two phases: 
the phase of transition in which the armed group decides to participate in the electoral 
competition, and the phase of consolidation, which consists of the total commitment by the 
armed group to the institutions through dismantling the armed wing
3
. The factors that conduct 
an armed group to engage in politics will be equally investigated.  
The second chapter is dedicated to the analysis of Hezbollah as an armed political 
organisation.  To better understand the peculiar status of this actor, the chapter seeks to answer 
the following questions: how did Hezbollah survive as an armed political organisation for three 
decades? What are the factors that encouraged this protracted condition? Hence, it is retained 
that the literature has scarcely explored the reasons that promote the prolonged existence of 
armed political organisations with their peculiar features. The intermediate stage after the 
transition of Hezbollah into the institutions will be the focus of the analysis. Starting from a 
study of the historical origins of Hezbollah within the Shi’i community, this work assumes that 
the factors that encourage the protracted existence of Hezbollah are to be researched inside the 
organisation itself and within the institutions of Lebanon. 
Finally, the third chapter of this work aims to problematise armed political organisations 
in an international scenario and, in particular, analyse the implications stemming from the 
increasing role of Hezbollah at the regional and international levels. This work also interrogates 
the effectiveness of debating the terrorist nature of Hezbollah. The reliance on binary 
classification, terrorist vs non-terrorist, might prevent the understanding of the comprehensive 
nature of Hezbollah and, consequently, the elaboration of a practical international approach to 
contrast the illicit component of the organisation.  
 
 
 
 
 
3
 Van Engeland, A., and R.M. Rudolph. From Terrorism to Politics, Routledge, London, 2008.