The duality of Hezbollah: the crossroads of armed struggle and local community development

Abstract

Contrasting Hezbollah's local community development projects and campaign for political struggle, this study seeks to understand if supposed terrorist organizations can function as successful community development organizations in their home locales. Research for this topic involved over a dozen first-hand interviews with Hezbollah officials to understand how Hezbollah operates from a development standpoint. Our approach to local community development incorporates the provision of coping mechanisms with addressing the underlying structural causes of marginalization. We find high stocks of social capital account for the effectiveness, efficiency and accountability of Hezbollah's social service network, which combined with its political activities, increase space for popular participation on macro level issues. Standing at the crossroads of local community development and armed struggle, Hezbollah reveals the need to avoid separating organizations that engage in advocacy from those that engage in development work, recognizing in many contexts, dual role organizations are the only enduring way forward.