This paper reevaluates the political and military significance of Hezbollah’s intervention in the Syrian conflict by exploring the organization’s strategies and dynamics and the outcomes of these in the post‘Arab S...This paper reevaluates the political and military significance of Hezbollah’s intervention in the Syrian conflict by exploring the organization’s strategies and dynamics and the outcomes of these in the post‘Arab Spring’Middle Eastern regional order.Hezbollah deployed troops in Syria.In May–June 2013,the leadership officially began to publicize the progress of its‘just war’based on a neo-muqawama scenario in which it called for an armed resistance to the dual threats of Zionists and takfiri jihadists.Hezbollah’s operations have assisted Syrian President Bashar alAssad to stay in power,albeit at a significant military and financial cost.However,it has also resulted in a serious side effect;the erosion of the organization’s identity as the‘Lebanese national resistance’and the subsequent escalation of Sunni-Shi‘a hostilities and sectarianism across the region.This,in turn,has incited further offensives by the Sunni takfiri jihadists active in the region and a vicious cycle of violence.Nevertheless,Hezbollah should not be seen only as a‘spoiler’for political stability in the Middle East.On the contrary,despite its provocative and radical revolutionary narratives,it remains in the‘conservative camp’and seeks to pursue a political status quo so as to prevent total collapse of the balance of power in the post‘Arab Spring’regional order.展开更多
Discourses are politically-oriented realities that explain their selective and instrumental nature.That means discourses are mostly(re)produced by the political actors,and they conform to the changing agendas of these...Discourses are politically-oriented realities that explain their selective and instrumental nature.That means discourses are mostly(re)produced by the political actors,and they conform to the changing agendas of these actors.The trajectory of the resistance discourse,which reflects Hezbollah’s ideological(religious)approach,seems to confirm this generalisation owing to its noticeable association with Hezbollah’s political motivations over time.This allegedly revisionist discourse has two intertwined dimensions:One dimension regards Hezbollah’s position towards internal affairs,while the other concerns its external orientation.Hezbollah often claimed to champion the revisionist camp in these two realms,albeit its pro-status quo policies unfolded during the Syrian civil war and the recent Lebanese protests.These two events further manifested the positioned nature of the resistance discourse.In this context,this article will attempt to illustrate the political nature of the resistance discourse by disputing its long-held revisionist claims.To empirically support our argument,the status-quo-based factors behind the regular practice of the resistance discourse during the Syrian civil war and the Lebanese protests will be deeply investigated.展开更多
As clashes between Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah and Israeli forces threaten to drag the two sides into open war, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah made an appearance in a televised statement, saying hi...As clashes between Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah and Israeli forces threaten to drag the two sides into open war, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah made an appearance in a televised statement, saying his forces have "complete strength and power" and "yearn for a ground conflict" with Israelis.展开更多
From the beginnings of Wahabism in the 18th century to the so called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant （ISIL, ISIS） violence has occasionally been justified in the name of Islam, which is problematic for secular ...From the beginnings of Wahabism in the 18th century to the so called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant （ISIL, ISIS） violence has occasionally been justified in the name of Islam, which is problematic for secular and traditional scholars alike. This paper demonstrates that there are three complex, interrelated causes for this violence： foreign military intervention, Salafi-Jihadism and a utopian state founded upon faith and justice, i.e. a caliphate.展开更多
Since 2017,multinational joint efforts to combat the terrorist organization‘Daesh’(ISIS)have achieved crucial victories.As a regional quasi-sovereign state,ISIS is almost finished.For a certain period,a power vacuum...Since 2017,multinational joint efforts to combat the terrorist organization‘Daesh’(ISIS)have achieved crucial victories.As a regional quasi-sovereign state,ISIS is almost finished.For a certain period,a power vacuum emerged due to the lack of effective authority after ISIS’s reign.After the withdrawal of those cross-border extremists political elites have sought to design or modify their new regime based on reviewing and amending previous governance systems and political structures.In the postcolonial era and the post-cold-war era,religious nationalism has become an important impulsion of ethnic aggregation and group mobilization for self-determination.In the post-ISIS era,anti-militant Islamism and de-extremism have had to set up a political agenda for potential successful self-determination,secession to subsequent independent regime and widespread international recognition.The resulting dilemma is that the successors in the areas used to be controlled by ISIS,especially those insurgent forces,are deliberately constraining their external religious expressions in order to achieve their primary political goals,such as autonomy and self-determination.However,if the measures aiming at antimilitant Islamism were not followed by spontaneously development of indigenous religious consciousness,and if the accompanied by self-determination claimant ended in frustration,then constrained religious expression would accumulate in adherents’sentiment and then cause retaliatory militarization threat to regional security in the future.展开更多
From the mid 1800s,modern Lebanon began to emerge as a state.Lebanon,as“the eternal homeland”,had been accepted by the Maronites,the Sunnis and the Druze as a general principle and the foundation of nation-state con...From the mid 1800s,modern Lebanon began to emerge as a state.Lebanon,as“the eternal homeland”,had been accepted by the Maronites,the Sunnis and the Druze as a general principle and the foundation of nation-state construction.The Shi'ite sectarian identity based on the leading role of the traditional feudal zu'ama was challenged by Arab nationalism in the mid 1900s,and was replaced by a new sectarian identity,based on the Shi'ite political organizations and sectarian militias.This new Lebanese Shi'ite collective identity is featured by a pro-Iranian and pro-Syrian position,and has become a big challenge to the nation-state construction of Lebanon.展开更多
文摘This paper reevaluates the political and military significance of Hezbollah’s intervention in the Syrian conflict by exploring the organization’s strategies and dynamics and the outcomes of these in the post‘Arab Spring’Middle Eastern regional order.Hezbollah deployed troops in Syria.In May–June 2013,the leadership officially began to publicize the progress of its‘just war’based on a neo-muqawama scenario in which it called for an armed resistance to the dual threats of Zionists and takfiri jihadists.Hezbollah’s operations have assisted Syrian President Bashar alAssad to stay in power,albeit at a significant military and financial cost.However,it has also resulted in a serious side effect;the erosion of the organization’s identity as the‘Lebanese national resistance’and the subsequent escalation of Sunni-Shi‘a hostilities and sectarianism across the region.This,in turn,has incited further offensives by the Sunni takfiri jihadists active in the region and a vicious cycle of violence.Nevertheless,Hezbollah should not be seen only as a‘spoiler’for political stability in the Middle East.On the contrary,despite its provocative and radical revolutionary narratives,it remains in the‘conservative camp’and seeks to pursue a political status quo so as to prevent total collapse of the balance of power in the post‘Arab Spring’regional order.
文摘Discourses are politically-oriented realities that explain their selective and instrumental nature.That means discourses are mostly(re)produced by the political actors,and they conform to the changing agendas of these actors.The trajectory of the resistance discourse,which reflects Hezbollah’s ideological(religious)approach,seems to confirm this generalisation owing to its noticeable association with Hezbollah’s political motivations over time.This allegedly revisionist discourse has two intertwined dimensions:One dimension regards Hezbollah’s position towards internal affairs,while the other concerns its external orientation.Hezbollah often claimed to champion the revisionist camp in these two realms,albeit its pro-status quo policies unfolded during the Syrian civil war and the recent Lebanese protests.These two events further manifested the positioned nature of the resistance discourse.In this context,this article will attempt to illustrate the political nature of the resistance discourse by disputing its long-held revisionist claims.To empirically support our argument,the status-quo-based factors behind the regular practice of the resistance discourse during the Syrian civil war and the Lebanese protests will be deeply investigated.
文摘As clashes between Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah and Israeli forces threaten to drag the two sides into open war, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah made an appearance in a televised statement, saying his forces have "complete strength and power" and "yearn for a ground conflict" with Israelis.
文摘From the beginnings of Wahabism in the 18th century to the so called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant （ISIL, ISIS） violence has occasionally been justified in the name of Islam, which is problematic for secular and traditional scholars alike. This paper demonstrates that there are three complex, interrelated causes for this violence： foreign military intervention, Salafi-Jihadism and a utopian state founded upon faith and justice, i.e. a caliphate.
基金2016 National Social Science Major Research Program[16ZDA096]the project“The Trans-boarder Activities of Militant Extremist Groups in the Middle East and Their Threats to International Security”,a 2017 research project of Shanghai International Studies University[20171140039].
文摘Since 2017,multinational joint efforts to combat the terrorist organization‘Daesh’(ISIS)have achieved crucial victories.As a regional quasi-sovereign state,ISIS is almost finished.For a certain period,a power vacuum emerged due to the lack of effective authority after ISIS’s reign.After the withdrawal of those cross-border extremists political elites have sought to design or modify their new regime based on reviewing and amending previous governance systems and political structures.In the postcolonial era and the post-cold-war era,religious nationalism has become an important impulsion of ethnic aggregation and group mobilization for self-determination.In the post-ISIS era,anti-militant Islamism and de-extremism have had to set up a political agenda for potential successful self-determination,secession to subsequent independent regime and widespread international recognition.The resulting dilemma is that the successors in the areas used to be controlled by ISIS,especially those insurgent forces,are deliberately constraining their external religious expressions in order to achieve their primary political goals,such as autonomy and self-determination.However,if the measures aiming at antimilitant Islamism were not followed by spontaneously development of indigenous religious consciousness,and if the accompanied by self-determination claimant ended in frustration,then constrained religious expression would accumulate in adherents’sentiment and then cause retaliatory militarization threat to regional security in the future.
文摘From the mid 1800s,modern Lebanon began to emerge as a state.Lebanon,as“the eternal homeland”,had been accepted by the Maronites,the Sunnis and the Druze as a general principle and the foundation of nation-state construction.The Shi'ite sectarian identity based on the leading role of the traditional feudal zu'ama was challenged by Arab nationalism in the mid 1900s,and was replaced by a new sectarian identity,based on the Shi'ite political organizations and sectarian militias.This new Lebanese Shi'ite collective identity is featured by a pro-Iranian and pro-Syrian position,and has become a big challenge to the nation-state construction of Lebanon.
