Iranian Reconstruction, Development, and Aid in Syria

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-242
Author(s):  
Eric Lob
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Development Organization ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Syrian Population ◽  
Organization Construction

This article examines the activities of the Iranian parastatal development organization Construction Jihad in the Syrian Civil War since 2015. Construction Jihad has implemented reconstruction and development projects and delivered social services and humanitarian aid in order to appease segments of the Syrian population and help pro-government forces consolidate territory. This case study sheds light on the complexities and tensions surrounding the Syrian regime's alliance with Iran and Russia and its efforts to preserve national sovereignty and avoid becoming dependent on its allies.

Forced Migration and Political Violence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Fisk
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
International Terrorism ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Displaced Populations ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Analytical Tools

There has been renewed academic interest in the security impacts of forced migration since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 generated more than 5 million refugees, most of whom fled to neighboring countries and to Europe. Researchers are, for instance, increasingly working to identify how the type, severity, and perpetrator of political violence affect patterns of displacement, such as whether forced migrants cross borders or remain in their home country. Though much of the discussion in the security studies context continues to center on forced migration flows as a conduit for civil war, international terrorism, and refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) as perpetrators, scholars also have begun to focus attention on the ways in which refugees and the internally displaced can become the targets of political violence in the receiving state. Following the path of earlier qualitative research recognizing that displaced populations rarely become militarized, studies of a more quantitative orientation are now working to isolate the conditions under which forced migration leads to varying forms of political violence. Another important and growing area of focus is on how resettlement of the displaced affects the dynamics of violence in the origin country, including the potential for conflict recurrence. Efforts to study security impacts of forced migration more systematically have increased alongside the availability of new data and more diverse analytical tools and methods. Still, many important dimensions of the forced migration–conflict connection remain to be explored, and innovative research as well as new data collection efforts are necessary. Integrating insights from other fields, including economics, psychology, and sociology, and returning to the task of theory-building based on case-study research offer a promising path forward.

scholarly journals Humanitarian Aid, Security and Ethics

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-156
Author(s):  
Hedva Eyal ◽  
Limor Samimian-Darash ◽  
Nadav Davidovitch
Keyword(s):  
Medical Treatment ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Standard Of Care ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Medical Security ◽  
The Relationship

The article examines the relationship between humanitarianism, security, and ethics in the case of the provision of medical humanitarian aid by Israel to casualties from the Syrian civil war, between 2013 and 2018. We argue that this humanitarian project differs from the type of humanitarian intervention commonly seen in conflict zones and can be identified as a new form of humanitarian governance. Our case study deals with humanitarian care provided in the country of origin of the medical and security forces involved, rather than in the country of the injured. In this articulation of humanitarianism at home a new nature of life governance and new subjects of security, emerge. We argue that the politics of life shifts and is subordinated to two different ethical frameworks founded on two different logics: that of the human (as in the type of medical treatment seen in traditional humanitarian aid provision, which is often related to short-term immediate treatment) and that of the citizen (the standard of care provided to all official residents of Israel. The conflict between these two moralities, the shifting standard of medical treatment, and the new medical-security space – together, raise a new set of ethical and political questions.

scholarly journals International Law and Humanitarian Intervention in the Syrian Civil War: The Role of the United States

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402091953
Author(s):  
Oluwaseyi Emmanuel Ogunnowo ◽  
Felix Chidozie
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Syrian Conflict

This article interrogates the legality of American interventions in the Syrian conflict. The Syrian civil war stands as one of the most controversial conflicts of the 21st century, owing to the mass destruction of lives and properties and the multiplicity of interventions which have created numerous strands of the conflict. The United States as one of the intervening powers has shown support for the rebel forces geared at toppling the Assad government. The research adopts the qualitative method and utilizes the case study research design. The research makes use of secondary data as derived from academic journals, books, book chapters, newspapers, and so on and analyzes these data through the use of thematic analysis. The findings of the study reveal that the interventions of the United States are not legal. The study also finds that the United States possesses certain strategic interests in the Syrian conflict which it aims to achieve.

scholarly journals Refining Intractability: A Case Study of Entrapment in the Syrian Civil War

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-436
Author(s):  
Siniša Vuković ◽  
Diane Bernabei
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Key Characteristics

Abstract Intractability is generally associated with prolonged tensions, employment of destructive means, suspicion and mistrust, inflammatory rhetoric and polarized solutions that are usually presented as ultimatums. Existing studies on intractability have emphasized the resistance to solution as a crucial indicator of intractability, and subsequently explored the phases through which intractability evolves and key characteristics these conflicts possess. What is largely missing is a nuanced explanation of at what point resistance turns into intractability. Building on earlier studies from social-psychology on entrapment in negotiations this article will develop a novel conceptual framework of entrapment as a precondition to intractability, and apply it to assess the causes and consequences of entrapment in an escalating conflict using the Syrian Civil War as a case study. The study will demonstrate that resistance to solution, which is a consequence of entrapment, does not automatically lead to intractability.

Assessing the Astana Peace Process for Syria: Actors, Approaches, and Differences

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sinem Cengiz
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Driving Factors ◽  
Mediation Theory ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Peace Initiatives ◽  
Conflicting Interests ◽  
Overall Effectiveness

Since 2011, numerous peace initiatives have been initiated out by several actors to end the Syrian civil war in a peaceful way. This article presents the “Astana Peace Process” brokered by Russia, Turkey, and Iran in early 2017 as a case study of a mediation and examines its predecessors to understand the reasons for the failures of those attempts and develops an assessment of the Astana peace process itself. To gain a better understanding of the Astana peace process, this article incorporates the efforts of main actors, their approaches, and the context of the war. In doing so, the article begins by describing the background of the civil war and then uses traditional concepts in mediation theory to elucidate the limitations of the unsuccessful attempts. Next, it investigates how the Astana peace process was different and the driving factors that encouraged the states to engage in this process and argues that Astana peace process’s overall effectiveness is likely to remain limited due to the conflicting interests of the mediators.

scholarly journals Anatomising Syrian crisis: Enumerating actors, motivations, and their strategies (2011-2019)

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-54
Author(s):  
Muhammad Nadeem Mirza ◽  
Hussain Abbas ◽  
Irfan Hasnain Qaisrani
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
System Level ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Effective Governance ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Strategic Competition ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Syrian Civil War

Syrian crisis started as a domestic uprising against President Bashar-ul-Assad, and soon engulfed not only the neighbouring states, but also extra-regional great powers. This study tries to anatomise the crisis by addressing the nature of the actors lying at domestic, regional, and system levels, who have rendered the conflict its multifaceted nature. The main question this study addresses is: What are the actors and factors that have contributed to the complexity of the Syrian Civil War and why has this conflict degenerated into a prolonged violent engagement between different groups? While using the theoretical prism of contentious theory of civil war developed by Adrian Florea and in-depth qualitative case study as methodological tool, this study hypothesizes that grievances at the domestic level have resulted in the onset of the conflict in Syria, which was later exacerbated and prolonged by the rise of ISIS and strategic competition among the regional and system level powers. The study concludes that, though the crisis is not over yet, increasing interests and overtures by Saudi Arabia and the domestic growing Syrian animosity towards Iran has opened new avenues for regional and extra-regional involvement in the post-conflict reconstruction for effective governance, peace, and stability in Syria.

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