Lebanese Hizbollah: From Radicalism to Realism

The Lebanese Hizbollah Movement is one of the most famous Islamist and militant movements in the Muslim World whose actions against the Israeli and Western forces had significant impact on the Lebanese society as well as on the Middle East. This movement underwent transformation and shifted from a paramilitary and almost clandestine group into a realist political party; a party which complied fully with democratic rules. The main question of this article refers to this very shift and the factors influencing such transformation. Emphasizing the point that Islamic movements do not emerge in the vacuum and are affected by their own milieu conditions, the author views the main factor for the shift in Hizbollah’s behavior as in the signature of the Taef Pact (the termination of the Lebanon’s civil war) and the revival of the consociational democratic system in the country.