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This tension, saturated with contrasts and contradictions, causes clashes and social and political struggles on the one hand, and on the other hand, it creates dynamic patterns of behavior that are based on mechanisms of mediation, compromise, and tension adjustment. The practical manifestation of this is evident in the approach of the Islamic movements that adopt an activity style of “walking the edge” in their relations with the establishment. 17 Islamic social movements are not a new phenomenon in Islamic society; they have characterized it from time immemorial.

According to this approach, impelling competition develops during the first phase between the movement organizations and within them for the use of violence as a means of attaining the support of the masses. 1057/9780230618015 - Hezbollah: The Story of the Party of God, Eitan Azani 18 HEZBOLLAH: THE STORY OF THE PARTY OF GOD dragged into using violent action. From the moment a wave of protest erupts, it is influenced by the way the state reacts; in other words, it is influenced by the correlation between the activity with repressive characteristics and activity with facilitating characteristics (containment).

These movements usually appear following crises, as is the case with other social movements. The current wave started in the second half of the twentieth century and is characterized by the rise of reformist and revolutionary Islamic protest movements that hold a similar common denominator: the demand to apply Islamic law upon the state. These movements were transformed, in the course of time, from a marginal element in Muslim society to a leading social and political element having widespread influence and control over the members of the low and middle classes in society, as far as posing a direct and indirect threat to existing governmental systems, regional systems, and international interests.