Keywords

Armed Insurgent Groups; Childhood War Exposure; Narratives; Hezbollah; Insurgent Participation; Political Violence

Subject Categories

International Relations | Political Science

Abstract

What explains participation in armed insurgent groups? Existing literature has examined psychological, individual, structural, and organizational dynamics of mobilization, but rarely looks at all three in tandem. This can be problematic, since these explanations cannot on their own explain variations in participation. Research on the effects of individual exposure to war-related violence also cannot explain why in conflict-ridden, organizationally dense environments, mobilization is still relatively rare despite widespread violent exposure. This study creates a unified theory of participation around the interaction between childhood exposure to war-related violence and relatable timely group narratives. Focusing on the case of Hezbollah in Lebanon, I argue that childhood is a critical formative period for cognitive, emotional, and value development. Childhood exposure to violence can amplify existing violent predispositions and create emotional and cognitive vulnerabilities to group pressures. These vulnerabilities can then be activated by relatable group narratives appearing at equally formative times. Participation should also not be treated as a binary but as a process involving timing and pathways of engagement. To evaluate my argument, I rely on quantitative analyses from an originally-collected individual-level dataset of 2445 individuals across four categories of Hezbollah involvement ranging from non-supporters to deceased Hezbollah militants. Descriptive statistics, logistic, multinomial, and ordered regression models are conducted. Additionally, I operationalize a discourse and sentiment analysis on Hezbollah’s emotional rhetoric on a corpus of more than 600 written narratives. Findings show that the effects of childhood exposure to war-related violence on participation are amplified by the presence of timely group narratives. This is particularly true for paramilitary involvement. Political engagement is more driven by the inactivated cumulative exposure to war-related violence throughout one’s life. This narrative activation process however tends to delay participation, contrary to expectations. The discourse and sentiment analyses show that Hezbollah’s narratives combine religious, nationalist, and resistance frames with both positive and negative emotional appeals.

Completion Date

2026

Semester

Summer

Committee Chair

Boutton, Andrew

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs

Format

PDF

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

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