Introduction to War, Peace & Terrorism: Syrian Civil War Research

This assignment analyzes the Syrian Civil War through a realist lens, drawing on three articles from credible sources. The student provides citations, working links, and summaries of each article, focusing on the application of realist concepts and balance of power dynamics. The first article examines the complex and often misrepresented nature of the conflict, highlighting the long-term consequences for Syria and the broader Middle East, and exploring regional rivalries. The second article delves into the origins of the conflict, moving beyond sectarianism to consider the impact of socio-economic factors and government policies, including the regime's use of fear and manipulation. The third article focuses on the militarization of the conflict, examining the roles of different actors and the uneven transformation of the Syrian countryside, emphasizing the government's selective provision of resources. Each article is analyzed through specific quotes that illustrate key concepts from course lectures and readings, demonstrating the student's understanding of realist principles and their application to the Syrian Civil War.

Introduction to War, Peace & Terrorism 0
INTRODUCTION TO WAR, PEACE & TERRORISM
Unit 4 Research Assignment

Introduction to War, Peace & Terrorism 1
Article 1
Citation and Link:
Carpenter, T. G. (2013). Tangled web: The Syrian civil war and its implications. Mediterranean
Quarterly, 24(1), 1-11.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/502429/summary
Summary:
The civil war in Syria has gathered significant recognition from Western media outlets, but most of the
journalism was simple and overdramatic. Just so many profiles describe the war as a Manichean
battle among the wicked, murderous Governance Bashar al-Assad and honorable soldier of fortune
attempting to make a fresh, free and fair Syria. The truth is much more complicated and gloomy. The
turmoil in Syria has disturbing, long-term consequences, both for that nation, but for the whole of the
Mideast, as well as for the global economic system. It was difficult to watch the burning pictures of
civilian casualties coming from Syria. Between the extinction event of friction for Assad's Government
around March 2011 and the start of 2013, thousands of people got killed, with no hope of
improvement. The doubt remains that the Government was liable for the majority of fatalities by
state forces. The possibility of Assad being assassinated appeals morally to Western people, but the
West people need to really be completely aware of the risk of unintentional, and potentially quite
inconvenient implications. There are also potential adverse worldwide consequences of the Syrian
civil war. This also had a caustic impact over both Russia and China's relations with the West. Disputes
over how to cope with Syria's fighting have resulted in bitter denouncements and backbiting on both
coasts. That growth may not work, particularly well in the coming years on a number of significant
problems for efficient global collaboration.
Quote 1:
“The armed rebels are Sunni to a man.”
Explanation of Quote 1:
Syria’s population includes Sunni Arabs around 60 percent of the total population. The evidence
shows that there is a dominance of Sunni’s in the Syrian army. The Sunni militants have opened up
their fight to other religious organizations.
Quote 2:
“Syria as a Cockpit for Regional Rivalries”
Explanation of Quote 2:
The domestic background to the Syrian dispute is at least as complicated as the inner environment,
reflecting both Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran's triangle geopolitical competition for superiority and
the ancestral violent competition among Islam's Sunni and Shiite groups. The United States as well as
its European allies, unfortunately, does seem dimly conscious of these conditions and the risks they
pose.

Introduction to War, Peace & Terrorism 2
Article 2
Citation and Link:
Berti, B., & Paris, J. (2014). Beyond sectarianism: Geopolitics, fragmentation, and the Syrian civil
war. Strategic Assessment, 16(4), 21-34.
https://www.inss.org.il/he/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/systemfiles/Beyond%20Sectarianism.pdf
Summary:
The origins of the Syrian military conflict are complicated and cross-layered, and it is not
understandable to look exclusively at pre-existing nationalistic personalities and the Sunni-Shiite
partnership. Three additional reasons are there of the Syrian explosions. Number one, non-regime
demonstrations, seen in Arab Awakening's wider global wave of social and political mobilizations,
were a reaction to an oppressive regime governed by the legislation of emergency, endemic
corruption and clienteles. Number two, a feeling of bitterness over increasing social inequity and poor
government in Syria sparked the original protests in March 2011. Number three, living circumstances
of Syria's poor working class and middle class, and particularly those residing on both the country's
geographic boundary, struggled further in the years leading up to the 2011 reforms as a consequence
of increasing inflation, falling oil prices, and declining Damascus subsidies. This decline has been
compounded by omnipresent defective government and local bribery at the macro stage.
This development of unfair growth, bribery, and center-periphery inequity describes the origins of the
Syrian revolt and demonstrates the similarities among the political movement caused by the Tunisian
Arab Transformation and the original protest process in Syria. At the very same period, nationalistic
fault lines will not be marked down as a supplementary factor that has helped to enhance the inner
pressures caused by these mix factors of organizational, economic and political.
Quote 1:
“Beginning as non-violent protests, the confrontation shifted from peaceful to violent, and even more
swiftly, from political to sectarian.”
Explanation of Quote 1:
The confrontation, starting as non-violent demonstrations, moved to violent from peaceful and more
rapidly to sectarian from political.
Recognizing this transformation into a vicious nonconformist war involves both sides of the conflict to
analyze the political strategy deliberately used by the Syrian government and, Possibly less
intentionally, by foreign strengths. Such political policies stimulated and pushed pre-existing inter-
sectarian fault lines in the conflict's foreground.
Quote 2:
“The violent escalation also allowed the regime to preserve its bases of support”
Explanation of Quote 2:
The brutal armed conflict also enabled the government to maintain its support bases. The fear
strategy, with the significant exception of the Kurds, asked for stoking the blaze of extremism to rally
the primary minorities of the country. The government cleverly claimed that in the case of an
opposition victory there would be an existential threat to the survival of these societies. Assad
stressed the opposition's Sunni nature, but also pointed to its Islamist personality which referred to
non-Assad movements as "terrorists."

Introduction to War, Peace & Terrorism 3
Article 3
Citation and Link:
De Juan, A., & Bank, A. (2015). The Ba ‘athist blackout? Selective goods provision and political violence
in the Syrian civil war. Journal of Peace Research, 52(1), 91-104.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022343314559437
Summary:
Earlier conflicts in Syria have been caused in Dar'a's southern town in the month of March
2011, when a number of adolescents were detained and imprisoned on house walls for writing the
Arab Spring motto (' individuals want the regime's demise'). The tribal leaders and the families have
taken their petition to the way in response. Military persons shot at the protesters, murdering
countless innocent people, and provoking additional demonstrations that led to the demolishing of
private and public property. The government tried to suppress the increasing demonstrations with
huge crushing, but only managed in distributing the demonstrations to the nearby villages and towns
in Hawran's southern government. The demonstrations gradually spread to nearly all of Syria's
governors after March 2011. As the months passed by, the civil and harmonious extremely pro-
regime protests could be clearly militarized.
Quote 1:
“The rebels, on the other hand, dominated the Syrian territories along the Turkish border”
Explanation of Quote 1:
The rebel command the Syrian regions and also the Turkish border, which is the rural landscape
around the main towns of Hama and Homs, the place around Dar'a's town in southern and also
outskirts of Damascus. However, the Assad regime could not defeat the regime by military means.
Quote 2:
“The transformation of the Syrian countryside, however, has been an uneven process. “
Explanation of Quote 2:
The Ba'athist government, for example, invested strongly in employment, energy, education, and
health facilities in that area contains a powerful footing – often through asabiya (primary group
solidarity) links – and deemed essential for economic growth.