Reading Response 5: Government and Politics of MENA Chapter 2 (Syria)

Allison Brown Government and Politics of the Middle East Eric Nigh February 14, 2022 Reading Response 5: Government and Politics of MENA Chapter 2 (Syria) In the textbook, The “ Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa” author Gasioro Yom details the history, politics, and economies of Syria and Lebanon. Beginning with Syria, the chapter details its history from the Ottoman Empire to French rule post WWI until 1946 with independence. A section of interest in this chapter ‘Authoritarian Upgrading’ starting with Hafiz alAsad’s ability to keep power during the Islamic insurgency in 1982, this ‘upgrading’ is defined in the text as “the fostering of alternative constituencies that could be balanced against each other, as a substitute for the alliance with workers and peasants that the regime was abandoning.” (p. 53) These upgrades de facto was the realization of the Syrian middle class to develop their own civil-society organizations like chambers of commerce in a strategy to lead to a social contract that would permit an election that could only be sustained by authoritarian power, and would lead to better economic trade and “openness” with Turkey. (54) Bashar al-Asad assumes power in 2000 and continues to lead Syria with similar policies to that of his late father in the face of unprecedented regional challenges in the post 9/11 world such as the US invasion of Iraq. (55) Syrian uprisings in 2011 alongside Arab uprisings presented a power challenge to Asad which would result in increased militarization and a rapidly degrading human rights situation in Syria. This militarization did not quell the violence however and led to increased funding to Syrian government from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey. (56) Violence only increased, with funding coming into Syria arming groups and arguably peaked against civilians with the use of sarin gas in Damascus; By 2015, it was estimated between 200,000 and 300,000 combatants and non-combatants had died in conflict while more than half of Syria’s population had been displaced. (56) Opposing Asad’s Syria was/is the Syrian National Coalition and Muslim Brotherhood, which are politically operating in Istanbul. In the midst of combat and insurgency conflict, ISIS, now the Islamic State, proved to only increase violence in attempts to take control of the border region. The IS would continue to expand and take Palmyra in 2015, which proved a victory due to the cities regional significance, combat against the IS changed with Russian intervention and airstrikes leading to a UNmediated cease-fire issues in 2016 which would slow fighting for some time. The textbook ends the dialogue on this situation in Syria in the current setting, in 2016. When analyzing this chapter of the textbook, it is interesting to bring into conversation our previous book, The New Arab Wars (Lynch, 2016), and theMosul film (2019). The situation in Syria is complex, and through these different texts and film, there are different approaches to explain the ongoing conflict and the political situations which persist. Mosul, works well in companion to Lynch and this textbook chapter as a way to humanize the ongoing conflict amongst insurgent groups and the Islamic State, with an on-the-ground view to try to understand the meanings of this conflict and the high levels of displaced peoples. Additionally, Yom in the textbook predicts the future of Syria at the close of the chapter stating, “not since its colonial inception has the future of Syria depended so much on forces beyond its control.” (75) Yom then asserts that Asad’s regime will securely stay in power and that Syria remains in a state of partition, with international actors supporting different factions. These predictions continue to be true and arguably worsened since the book’s publication in 2016. It’s also evident how Allison Brown Government and Politics of the Middle East Eric Nigh February 14, 2022 proxy warfare between different powers, on many levels (Russia, US) compared to (the Gulf) with different groups such as the Syrian National Coalition and the Islamic State.