The Origins of the Syrian Conflict: Domestic Factors and Early Trajectory

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of tables
Notes on contributors
Foreword
1. Introduction: Origins of the Syrian Uprising: From structure to agency
	Why the Asad regime was so vulnerable to the Uprising
	Explaining anti-regime mobilization
	Why peaceful protests did not lead to democratic transition
	Plan of the book
	Bibliography
2. The tragedy of Ba’thist state-building
	State-building in Syria
	Domination and resistance as state-building: the rise of the Ba’th
	The ironies of regime consolidation and erosion
	The tragic conclusion to Ba’thist state-building
	Note
	Bibliography
3. The power of ‘sultanism’: Why Syria’s non-violent protests did not lead to a democratic transition
	Theory
	Background
	Regime characteristics deterring a democratic transition in Syria
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
4. The dynamics of power in Syria: Generalized corruption and sectarianism
	Neo-patrimonial leadership
	Rule by family and sect
	Rule through the security services
	Controlling the army: Sect and inter-sectarian divisions
	Economic sleaze and administrative dysfunction
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
5. The Uprising and the economic interests of the Syrian military–mercantile complex
	Introduction
	Socioeconomic background of the military
	The military’s economic role and interests
	Economic interest as a loyalty-factor during the Uprising
	The Syrian military after the Uprising
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
6. Revisiting the political economy of the Syrian Uprising
	Global crises and local outcomes
	Effects of the 2008–09 global financial crisis
	Syria weathers the crisis
	External crises and internal challenges in Syria
	Conclusion
	References
7. Tutelary authoritarianism and the shifts between secularism and Islam in Syria
	Introduction
	Political contestation during the time of Hafiz al-Asad
	Continuity and Bashar al-Asad’s new era: après moi, le déluge
	The secular threat and the March 2011 Uprising
	Conclusion
	Bibliography
8. Organizationally secular: Damascene Islamist movements and the Syrian Uprising
	Conceptual framework
	Analytic narrative: The Kaftariyya, and the Qubaysiyyat
	Organizational analysis
	Prelude to the Uprising: Attacking the organizational setup of the ‘Ulama
	In the Uprising
	Bibliography
9. Bashar’s fateful decision
	Caught unawares?
	To speech or not to speech
	A speech not worth waiting for
	No going back
	Notes
10. Syria’s Alawis: Structure, perception and agency in the Syrian security dilemma
	Introduction
	Parsing the ethnic-religious security dilemma
	The structure of Alawite insecurity
	Intangible Alawite insecurities
	Agents of Alawite insecurity
	Conclusion
	Bibliography
11. Emergence of the political voice of Syria’s civil society: The non-violent movements of the Syrian Uprising
	Introduction
	The case of Syrian civil society
	Syria’s civil society post-Uprising
	The imagery and image of the non-violent movements
	Conclusion: The emergence of the political voice of Syria’s civil society
	Notes
	Bibliography
12. Demands for dignity and the Syrian Uprising
	Introduction
	Linguistic notes on karama (dignity)
	Beginnings: dignity in resistance
	Syria’s dignity strikes
	Arming the revolution
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
13. Mediating the Syrian revolt: How new media technologies change the development of social movements and conflicts
	Introduction
	Phase 1. The spark of the Uprising and the “syndrome of Hama”: the Facebook and YouTube effects
	Phase 2. From Uprising to armed conflict, from citizen journalism to a revival of traditional media
	Phase 3. Media professionalisation amidst war stagnation
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
14. Unblurring ambiguities: Assessing the impact of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in the Syrian revolution
	Contradicting narratives on SMB early activities
	Into the political sphere: ideology, organization, alliances
	Humanitarian campaigns
	Another open front: the militarization of the revolution
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
15. Sectarianism and the battle of narratives in the context of the Syrian Uprising
	Sectarianism as a discourse of power
	The Syrian regime’s sectarian strategy
	The anti-sectarian discourse of the opposition
	The sectarian narrative of the Salafi-Jihadist groups
	The emergence of a sectarian master narrative
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
16. Sunni/Alawi identity clashes during the Syrian Uprising: A continuous reproduction?
	The identity puzzle in Syria (1946–2011)
	Orchestrating Sunni and Alawite identity clashes from above
	Shaping Sunni identity; Sufism, Salafism and Salafi-Jihadism
	The Shiite axis vs. the Sunni bloc: reproducing Sunni and Alawi identities from beyond the Syrian borders
	Sunni identity vs. Alawi identity: the reproduction from below
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
17. The rise of Syrian Salafism: From denial to recognition
	Introduction
	Defining Salafism and its various manifestations
	Syrian Salafism before the revolution
	The Syrian revolution and factors leading to the spread of Salafism
	The reality of Syrian Salafism through the revolution
	The proliferation of Salafist groups in Syria
	Conclusion: Syrian Salafism from denial to recognition
	Notes
	Bibliography
18. From a window in Jaramana: Imperial sectarianism and the impact of war on a Druze neighbourhood in Syria
	Introduction
	From a window in Jaramana
	Methodology
	A point of no-return: The event of sectarian violence in Jaramana
	Imperial sectarianism: State ideology and sectarianism in pre-war Syria
	Jaramana and its Druze residents since 2011
	Conclusion: Minorities and sectarianism from a window in Jaramana
	Notes
	Bibliography
19. The Left in the Syrian Uprising
	Introduction: The Left’s predicament
	The loyalists: The Ba’th Party and the National Progressive Front
	The traditional Left opposition: The National Coordination Bureau for the Forces of Democratic Change (NCB)
	The centrists: The Front for Liberation and Change
	The Left in the grassroots protest movement
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
20. Political incongruity between the Kurds and the ‘opposition’ in the Syrian Uprising
	Introduction
	From Syria’s formation to Ba’th Party rule: the exclusion of Kurdish identity
	Turning points
	The Kurdish opposition in the Syrian Uprising
	Disagreements between the KNC and the Syrian opposition
	The PYD: Its ‘third way’ policy and the Syrian opposition
	Conclusion
	Bibliography
21. Conclusion: The early trajectory of the Syrian Uprising: From agency to structure
	Why did anti-regime mass mobilization lead to stalemate rather than revolution or regime collapse?
	Why did peaceful protest turn into armed civil war, framed in sectarian terms, that has proved intractable?
	Outcomes of competitive regime formation
	Neglected nuances and the horizons for future scholarship
	References
Index