“ Joseph Alagha’s portrait of Hizbullah reveals an organization that has gradually changed its identity and its policies, becoming more Lebanese and more political as it has had to cope with the harsh realities of the environment in which it operates. His discussion of “wilayat al-faqih” and the “New Manifesto” of 2009 will be particularly enlightening to most Western readers.”—William B. Quandt, Edward R. Stettinius Professor of Politics, University of Virginia

“Joseph Alagha’s latest book is a major contribution to the understanding of  Hizbullah’s position not only in Lebanon or the Shi‘ite world, but also in world politics. It combines the mastery on Hizbullah’s ideology through its major thinkers and its relation to the Shi‘ite intellectual production in Iran and elsewhere. It shows in particular the change within Hizbullah’s major political and ideological stances and their flexibility in terms of modernization, opening up the Islamic views to many modern ones, which were once thought as antagonistic to Islam. Alagha displays a rare mastery of ideological and socio-political analysis, combining them in a scholarly view that makes this book indispensable for understanding this movement within the Muslim world.”—Farhad Khosrokhavar, Professor of Sociology at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris; Yale and Harvard Visiting Professor. Author of Inside Jihadism: Understanding Jihadi Movements Worldwide (2009)and Suicide Bombers: Allah’s New Martyrs (2005)