Hezbollah, Islamist Politics, and International Society

ISBN-13: 9781137403018 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 279 str.

Filippo Dionigi

Opis

This book argues that the influence of international norms on Islamist politics goes beyond the surface of occasional and instrumental norm-conformist behavior by Islamist actors. More than that, international norms instill in the discourse and agency of Islamism the elaboration of conceptions of person and community as part of international society, instead of being its outcasts. By using the case of Lebanon's Hezbollah, the author draws the attention of the reader to how this Islamist movement has become more cognizant of the moral cogency of the norms of international society. The result is a precarious but innovative balance -mediated by a process of international socialization - in which a political actor defines and re-defines its Islamist identity by rethinking the idea of an allegedly "authentic" Islamic morality and the legitimacy of international norms.

Spis treści

1. Introduction: Studying the Impact of International Norms on Islamist Politics 2. The Western Critique of Liberalism: Communitarianism 3. Islamist Critiques of Liberalism: ?Abduh, Qu?b, al-?adr and Khomeini 4. Islamism as Communitarianism: A comparative Analysis? 5. The Rise of Political Shi?ism in Lebanon 6. Non-Combatant Immunity and Israel-Hezbollah Wars: The Case of the April Understanding 7. Hezbollah and Human Rights Legislation in the Lebanese Parliament 8. Hezbollah and UNSC Resolutions 1559 and 1701 9. Community, Person and International Norms in Hezbollah's Political Language: Comparing the 1985 Open Letter and the 2009 Political Document 10. Conclusions: the Impact of International Norms on Islamist Politics,

O autorze

Filippo Dionigi is is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the at the Middle East Centre of the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.

Blurb

How do the norms of the liberal international order affect the activity of Islamist movements? This book analyzes and assesses the extent to which Islamist groups, which have traditionally attempted to shield their communities from “alien” moral conceptions, have been affected by the rules and principles that regulate international society. Through an analysis of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Filippo Dionigi concludes that international norms are among the most significant factors changing Islamist politics. The result is a precarious but innovative equilibrium in which Islamists are forced to rethink idea of an allegedly “authentic” Islamic morality and the legitimacy of international norms.