Introduction

Abstract

If two nonstate actors find themselves fighting the same adversary, in the same territory, while claiming to represent the same constituency, one might expect them to experience similar outcomes. Why, then, does one survive and thrive while the other falters and suffers defeat? This chapter argues that the strategies that militant groups use to acquire resources from state sponsors and local constituents—coercion, service as a military proxy, provision of social services, and marketing—impact not only the resources they are able to acquire but also what they are able to do with those resources once they have them. Based on their foreign and domestic policy choices, Ora Szekely develops a typology, which forms the framework within which the analysis of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Amal, Hizbullah, and Hamas in the remainder of the book is situated.