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Beyond Identity: What Explains Hezbollah's Popularity among Non-Shi‘a Lebanese?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2021

Ekrem Karakoç Open the ORCID record for Ekrem Karakoç [Opens in a new window] ,
Mesut Özcan  and
Sevinç Alkan Özcan
Ekrem Karakoç*
Affiliation:
Binghamton University (SUNY)
Mesut Özcan
Affiliation:
Social Sciences University of Ankara
Sevinç Alkan Özcan
Affiliation:
Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ekrem Karakoç, Political Science, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY. E-mail: ekarakoc@binghamton.edu
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Abstract

This study delves into how non-Shi‘a Lebanese assess Hezbollah and its activities. Having provided empirical evidence that Hezbollah has garnered positive perception in Lebanon, it asks what explains a substantial increase or decrease in favorable attitudes toward Hezbollah among Christians, Sunnis, and Druze? It argues that those who perceive Hezbollah as a resistance organization, as it often describes itself; the political alliance across sectarian groups; as well as insecurity caused by armed groups such as Sunni militant groups and ISIS, all combine to moderate people's views toward Hezbollah. Using an original, nationally representative face-to-face survey in Lebanon in 2015 and employing a multivariate statistical method, it finds that those who hold unfavorable views of the United States, those who support the political alliance of which Hezbollah is part, and those who support the Assad regime in Syria are likely to have a positive perception of Hezbollah and or its activities in the region.

Type
Article
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 85 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

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Footnotes

1.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/07/01/concerns-about-islamic-extremism-on-the-rise-in-middle-east/pg-2014-07-01-islamic-extremism-07/. The decreases in its popularity in Sunni majority countries such as Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey have been substantial. For example, the unfavorable views toward Hezbollah from 2007 to 2014 have increased from 41 to 83% in Egypt, 44 to 81% in Jordan, and 75 to 85% in Turkey.

*

We appreciate two excellent anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. In the earlier iterations of this paper, Carla Abdo-Katsipis, Bruce Rutherford, David Siddhartha Patel, Ora Szekely, and Nils Hagerdal provided valuable feedbacks and suggestions at the 13th Annual Northeast Middle East Politics Working Group (NEMEPWG), convened at Hamilton College, NY.

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