UN Security Council Resolutions as Factors of International Socialization: The Case of Hezbollah

This paper shows how UN Security Council resolutions can facilitate the international socialization of an Islamist political actor. The study undertakes a process-tracing analysis of the negotiations and attempts to implement UNSC Resolutions 1559 and 1701 and then assesses their impact on Hezbollah's agency and political identity. The author argues that UNSC resolutions can inform processes of social influence that directly affect the activity of non-state actors and then cause international socialization. According to the analysis proposed international socialization has produced three main effects on Hezbollah that are: increased accountability; a shift in its legitimacy paradigm; and a mutation of Hezbollah's relation with the Lebanese state.