With most Lebanese, including many Shias, just beginning to taste the fruits of reconstruction, and with a record summer tourist season in prospect, the Islamists were widely regarded as a dangerous anomaly.

ECONOMIST: The Arab world

Most Lebanese, including a growing number of Shias, are tired of being held hostage to outmoded heroic notions.

ECONOMIST: Dark deeds in Lebanon | The

And the Shias' leaders, including many of those who were hostile a few months ago to the plan for an election, now seem keen to encourage their co-religionists to vote too.

ECONOMIST: Iraq