The alliance of the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah : the dynamics of the political parties of the Christian community

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt at analyzing the dynamics of the Christian community through different historical and contemporary circumstances; both inter-Christian relations, their relations with other Lebanese communities, as well as their external relations to foreign players. Ultimately, this will assist at analyzing why the Christian Maronite political party leader General Aoun allied himself with Muslim Shi'a party Sectary General Sayyed Hassan Nassrallah; and the consequences of such an alliance on the Christian community. The division of Lebanese society into different religious factions, mainly Christian Muslim and Droze, has allowed for each to have specific communities. This scenario has created disunity within the Christian community which is expressed through the formation of political parties. Inter-communities and external relations are ultimately affected by this disunity. The role of foreign players further exacerbates this disunity, and impacts on the ideologies and political views of the respective Christian political parties. This is most notable in the alliance between the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Hezbollah which is regarded as controversial since the leader Aoun of FPM has an anti-Syrian element while Sayyed Hassan Nassrallah's military force is funded by Syria.