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Case study Syria lecture notes + exam questions
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- Universiteit Leiden (UL)
Lecture notes case study Syria (2020) + exam questions
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Case Study SyriaLesson 1: Introduction, 26th October 2020
First difficulty: where to start with the ongoing complex war
Starting point of war in Syria: 15th March 2011, march in Damascus and Aleppo, demand of
democratic approach and release of some prisoners.
“It’s your turn doctor.” Assad is an eye doctor
At the beginning: a new chapter in the Arab Spring, but by now it developed to varied war and the
rise of extreme groups (ISIS,)
Many places where to start with this war:
Mohammed Bouazizi, self-eliminated through fire to protest in December 2010: beginning of
Tunisian Revolution The beginning of the Arab Spring: Killing of leaders of the progressive
regimes. Causes lie in the inequality, un-employed, dissatisfied population because of these regimes.
April 2003: US invaded Iraq: pulling down the statue of Sudan Hussein = dictator or Iraq beginning
with the war of Iraq?
Start of the Ba’ath party: Assad at head of the party and head of the regime.
Start with Hafiz al-Assad as leader Hama massacre
Colonialism: original division of the ultimate empire between the French and the Brits.
Studying war:
We live in a very stable world, but we study the war in Syria, not Syria itself.
The hope faded away in the increasing of violence. The struggle for freedom.
Religious factions: many actors in Syria conflict
YPG
Yellow flag: Hezbollah from Lebanon.
Black flag
There is an impact from Syria towards the Netherlands. It’s not the conflict only in Syria, but also the
international consequences.
Turning point international involvement:
15th November 2015: Bataclan attacks in Paris international community got more involved in the
Islamic states/this conflict.
Refugees: consequences felt through the whole world even to local level.
Protests to AZC’s divide in European politics
Nigal Farage (British, EU), making a case for Brexit with the refugee flow. Immigration no longer an
issue in the United Kingdom.
Angela Merkel: “Wir schaffen das”, she wanted to help the refugees.
Destruction of history/artefacts.
Chemical weapons/ red lines
Involvement through delivering money for trucks, or the white helmets, etc.
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,International involvement may seem straight forward, but the execution is very difficult and
different.
Lesson 2: Social and political history of modern Syria,
28th October
“History is the life of nations and of humanity. To seize and put into words, to describe directly the
life of humanity or even of a single nation, appears impossible.”
Idea we can shape history for our own ends: “He who controls the past controls the future. He who
controls the present controls the past.”
“History will be kind to me for I intent to write it.” I can control my presentation, because I can write
my own history.
“The problem with historical events which are intricately interwoven is that, the better to
understand their constituent elements, we have to pull them apart. But in order to understand the
story in its plenitude, you have to interweave those elements together again.”
We are going to take a very long lens, but pick specific moments and try to understand and look into
detail with them. We’re going to deal with the Syrian War, before it started.
Dr. Who: What if this didn’t happen, how would the world look nowadays.
The (very) long view
Prehistoric: at the confluence of Africa, Europe and Asia. People travelled through Syria. Place of
settlement for a Very long time.
Ancient: Assyrian empire c.900-600B.C.
Classical: Alexander the Great, Seleucid division, Roman province from 64 B.C.
Byzantine: Road to Damascus… then ruled from Constantinople.
Early Islamic: conquest by Muhammad peace be upon him (jihad), Umayyad capital (build the
Damascus mosque, 8th century) several successive rulers/empires Umayyad
Middle Islamic: Crusades or people of the book?
Late Islamic: Ottoman Empire: millets and notables, European colonialism (tanzimat, 1860 Damascus
riots)
Why?
The ethnic and religious diversity, we can think about it in long terms.
European colonialism imposed his own view how the lands divided and by whom
Division in Syria, Petty Kings, power in one place and then splits.
Patterns of instability, question of public, not only the leaders. Public satisfaction
World war I
Middle East key battle ground British + French against the Ottomans Jihad popping up,
European fear of Jihad.
Three contradictory agreements, made by British during WWI:
1. McMahon-Hussein letters (1915). About the conditions from bringing Hussein on the side of
the British. Price: independent state for Hussein and his followers.
2. Sykes-Picot agreement (1916). Division of post-Syria and new-Syria. The strait line in the
sand. Divide the rule even.
2
, 3. Balfour Declaration (1917). Promised a home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Responding
to movement Disirenism.
Bottom line: colonial interest, wartime expediencies.
Relevance of the events to Syria:
- They didn’t take into account the interest of the people.
- The development of the state of Israel
The formation of the Syrian state
In the Ottoman Empire there was no Syrian state.
Lloyd-George and Clemenceau (1918): Palestine and Mosul.
Peace Treaty at Versailles (1919): self-determination through or instead of mandates?
San Remo conference (1920): imperialist ambitions and designs
Faisal = Son of Sharif Hussein: demand of independent Arab states becomes Jordan and Iraq, while
Syrian independence is denied.
French division into Lebanon and Syrian States: 1927-1932 – President and Parliament, 1936
integration and attempt at treaty.
Invasion by Allies forces during WWII (1939-1945) before withdrawal under British pressure
“The perpetual hand-wringing in London, Paris and Washington over the lack of democracy in the
Arab World is sort of like Jack the Ripper complaining about the high murder rate”
Relevant:
fighting for their own independence state independence drives the Syrian state
The struggle for Syria 1946-1971
The military taking power, because they are not happy about the current regime.
Michelle Aflaq and Salah Al-Din Bitar: Syrian philosopher, one of the founding members of the Ba’ath
Party in 1947.
Coups: 1949, Quwatli – Zaïm – Hinnawi – Shishakli (and 1951).
1954-5 Quwatli again and energetic parliamentary system.
US support in the context of the early Cold War. Events in Syria closely related to similar dynamics in
Egypt and Iraq (Baghdad Pact, Suez)
1958-61: United Arab Republic between Egypt and Syria. High tide of pan-Arabism, Gamal Abdel
Nasser’s reluctant overreach.
1961-70: Presidents inc. Amin Al-Hafiz (63-66), Nur Al-Din Al-Atasi (66-70). Marked by scheming
between Ba’ath officers, some Alawi.
1970: Hafez Al-Assad appoints Ahmed Al-Khatib as President, then replaces him as President in 1971,
‘confirmed’ by popular vote.
Relevance:
- The instability of governance, only one family governance
- Circumstances in where Al-Assad gained is power
Hafez Al-Assad
Wars with Israel 1967 and 1973.
3
, Palestinian refugees and territorial conflict (Golan Heights)
Intervention in the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) in 1976.
Syria occupies North Lebanon.
Repression of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially in Hama 1982
Syria is a centra for Palestinian action, useful justification for ‘emergency’ measures. Shabiha are a
crucial tool.
Al-Assad supports US Gulf War in 1990-91, against Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait
Corruption, competition, deification: keeping it in the family… Basil killed in a car accident in 1994,
Rifaat dismissed in 1998
Hafez Al-Assad died of a heart attack in June 2000
Relevance:
- Bashar Al-Assad wants to continue his father’s legacy
- Is the war worth the goal = democracy ? there are voices it is not worth it, but others think it
is the only solution
Bashar Al-Assad
Groomed for succession after the death of his brother.
Ophthalmologist, UK-educated, internet-savvy, with a media-friendly wife.
Syrian politics adjusted to appoint him quickly in 2000.
Damascus Spring: (brief) cultural and political relaxation. Key opposition figures gain experience (+ve
and -ve (=experience?)).
But a chip off the old block? Assassination of Rafik Hariri in Lebanon in 2005 leads to Syrian
withdrawal.
Corruption continues with a new generation – Rami Makhlouf.
Seen as ‘charman of the board’: able to patronize competing factions sufficiently to prevent a coup,
but not idolized.
Relevance:
- Meeting expectations, Bashar as controlled as his father, these expectations changed => Arab
spring
- By seeing his experience, we can see his character, we see his view of politics in Syria. ‘as the
rightful person for Syria’.
Conclusions
Official flag of the government: 2 stars representing Egypt and Syria. A reference to the United Arab
Public.
The flag of the opposition: 3 stars as an alternative of the Assad regime
History matters. But how?
Cause and effect: certain actions lead to certain consequences and lead to where we are
today.
Identities: drawing on historical resources to understand who you are. Patterns and ideas
Ideologies: things bigger than identities. Philosophies that motivate collective actions. Ba’ath
ideology, nationalism, religion,
Echoes: parallels, same things come back again and again. Division, centralisation, harder to
explain, but it is there.
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