State and Tribes in Syria: Informal Alliances and Conflict Patterns

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
1 Syrian tribes: why is it important to know about them?
	Introduction
	The importance of the book and the questions that it seeks to answer
	Geography and population
		Geography
		Population
	Tribal mapping
	Methodology
	Limitations of the study
		Debates over the structure and function of tribes
	Framework for analysis
	Structure of the book
	Bibliography
2 Tribes and the state: from the rise of Islam to the French mandate over Syria
	Introduction
	Historical introduction
	Arab tribes, from Islamic conquest to the Mamluks (635–1517)
	Arab tribes and the politics of the state in the early Ottoman period (1516 until 1841)
	Arab tribes and the politics of the state in the late Ottoman period (1840 until 1917)
		Modernisation policies from Tanzimat to Sultan Abdulhamid II
		Subjugating the tribes
		Divide and rule
		Inducement policy
		Settlement policy
		Bureaucratic penetration
	First World War, the Arab Revolt and tribal loyalties
	Arab tribes and the French mandate policies (1919 until 1947)
		The pacification of the tribes
		The mandate management of the tribal regions
		Using the tribes as a counterweight to the nationalist movement
	Tribe–state dynamics throughout history
	Bibliography
3 Arab tribes and the rise of the nation-state in Syria from 1946 until 1970
	Introduction
	Tribes and the independent state 1946–1958
	Agricultural revolution and Bedouin settlement
	Abdel Nasser crushes the tribes 1958–1962
	Tribes after the separation from Egypt
	The Ba’th Party and the seizing of power in 1963
	Tribes and tribalism in Ba’thist ideology
	Land reform and sedentarisation projects
	Abolition of hima (traditional grazing system)
	Abolition of urf (traditional legal system)
	Tribal reaction to the Nasserists’ and Ba’thists’ measures
	Conclusion
	Note
	Bibliography
4 From enmity to amity: Hafez al-Assad and the Arab tribes in Syria from 1970 until 2000
	Introduction
	The ‘Correctionist Movement’ and widening the base of alliances
	Hafez al-Assad’s tribalisation policies
	Tribes as a bridge to the Arab Gulf
	Tribes as a counterweight to the Islamists
	Tribes as a counterweight to the Kurds
	Tribes in the army, security apparatus and Ba’th Party
		The army
		Security apparatus
		The Ba’th Party
	Tribal representation in the Syrian Parliament
	Structural changes in tribal community by the end of the twentieth century
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
5 Bashar al-Assad and the Arab tribes in Syria from 2000 until 2010
	Introduction
	Bashar al-Assad and narrowing down the base of alliances
	Development and ‘modernisation’ policies in the tribal regions
	Supporting the Iraqi insurgency and the tribes’ role
	Tribal clashes: the regime is losing its grip
	The spread of Shi’ism and the rise of Salafism among the tribes
		The spread of Shi’ism among the tribes – myth and reality
		The rise of Salafism among the tribes
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
6 Tribes and tribalism in the Syrian uprising and civil war
	Introduction
	Tribes and collective action in the Syrian uprising
	The underlying reasons for the uprising among the tribes
	Sheikhs as ‘guarantors’
	‘Gathering’ the tribes
	‘Tribal Crescent’ versus ‘Shiite Crescent’
	Tribal ties put pressure on Iraq
	Arab tribes and the Kurds
	Tribes in the civil war
	Tribes and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
	Conclusion
	Note
	Bibliography
Conclusion
	Bibliography
Index