Quote: Hezbollah and the Inversion of Legitimacy

"Hezbollah's strength (derives from) the gross vacuum left by the state." Hezbollah is not a state within a state, but rather "a state within a nonstate." Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a professor at the Lebanese American University.
John Kifner. "Hezbollah Leads Work to Rebuild, Gaining Stature." The New York Times. August 16, 2006.

It's clear that Hezbollah has advanced in more than the violence of 4GW, it is also demonstrating an ability to solidify its position by providing sys-admin like functionality (ala Barnett's "Blueprint for Action" and my "State Failure 101"). There is an important cycle that inverts legitimacy at work here:

• In order to fight a non-state enemy, other states hollowed out a state. Whether Hezbollah is at fault or not is a non-issue.
• The non-state enemy proves (through 4GW) it is the only force capable of defending the people.
• the non-state builds alliances with other non-states and states to gather essential support.
• The non-state provides services (political goods) at a higher level of efficiency and value than the state (sys-admin).

In short, Hezbollah gains legitimacy at the expense of the state. Expect to see this cycle again and again from 4GW groups (in contrast, networked non-states like al Qaeda operate in a different way entirely -- although many conflate the two approaches).