Abstract:
This thesis examines what kind of label as a non-state actor does Hezbollah fit. Can it be
described as an autonomous non-state actor or, alternatively, a proxy one? To explain this
puzzle, the thesis focuses on specific theatres of operation: namely, the Lebanese context
and its environs along the border area with Syria, and the larger geopolitical context in
which Hezbollah operates as a proxy for Iran’s geopolitical interests, in Iraq, the Occupied
Palestinian Territories, Syria, and Yemen. The thesis argues that the more Hezbollah
operates in the former context the more it approaches the status of an autonomous nonstate
actor, while its extensive activities in the latter turn it into a proxy non-state actor.
The implications of this argument to International Relations (IR) theory are
straightforward: in the ongoing geopolitical battle over the Middle East, non-state actors
are as important as state actors.
