Download or read book Creating Consent in an Illiberal Order written by Jessica Watkins and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-06-09 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores 'low policing' of interpersonal disputes in Jordan to show the inconspicuous methods the state uses to maintain social order.
Download or read book The Origins of the Syrian Conflict written by Marwa Daoudy and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-26 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a new conceptual framework drawing on human security to evaluate the claim that climate change caused the conflict in Syria.
Download or read book Terror and Consent written by Philip Bobbitt and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2013-04-04 with total page 1019 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The wars against terror have begun, but it will take some time before the nature and composition of these wars is widely understood. The objective of these wars is not the conquest of territory, or the silencing of any particular ideology, but rather to secure the necessary environment for states to operate according to principles of consent and make it impossible for our enemies to impose or induce states of terror. Terror and Consent argues that, like so many states and civilizations in the past that suffered defeat, we are fighting the last war, with weapons and concepts that were useful to us then but have now been superseded. Philip Bobbitt argues that we need to reforge links that previous societies have made between law and strategy; to realize how the evolution of modern states has now produced a globally networked terrorism that will change as fast as we can identify it; to combine humanitarian interests with strategies of intervention; and, above all, to rethink what 'victory' in such a war, if it is a war, might look like - no occupied capitals, no treaties, no victory parades, but the preservation, protection and defence of states of consent. This is one of the most challenging and wide-ranging books of any kind about our modern world.
Download or read book Defiant Dictatorships written by P. Brooker and published by Springer. This book was released on 1997-09-30 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why did some Communist and Middle-Eastern dictatorships, those in China, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Iran, remained defiantly stable during the onset of a democratic age in the 1980s and early 1990s? The book offers an explanation based upon external relations - the regimes' defiance of external military or political foes - and then searches for alternative or supplementary explanations by examining the changes that occurred in these dictatorships' political structures, ideologies and economic policies during 1980-94.
Download or read book Impossible Revolution written by Yassin al-Haj Saleh and published by Haymarket Books. This book was released on 2017-08-28 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Syria's dictator Bashar al-Assad and his junta regime have slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Syrians in the name of fighting terrorism. Former political prisoner, and current refugee, Yassin al-Haj Saleh exposes the lies that enable Assad to continue on his reign of terror as well as the complicity of both Russia and the US in atrocities endured by Syrians.
Download or read book Kingmakers written by Karl E Meyer and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2008-05-27 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the history of the modern development of the Middle East, focusing on the British and American influences on Middle Eastern politics and culture.
Download or read book Spillover from the Conflict in Syria written by William Young and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2014-08-27 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All roads lead to Damascus and then back out again, but in different directions. The financial and military aid flowing into Syria from patrons and neighbors is intended to determine the outcome of the conflict between a loose confederation of rebel factions and the regime in Damascus. Instead, this outside support has the potential to perpetuate the existing civil war and to ignite larger regional hostilities between Sunni and Shia areas that could reshape the political geography of the Middle East. This report examines the main factors that are likely to contribute to or impede the spread of violence from civil war and insurgency in Syria, and then examines how they apply to Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan.
Download or read book The Islamist Impasse written by Ibrahim Karawan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-12-24 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the mid-1970s, Islamist groups have been important opposition forces in the Arab world and have posed a considerable challenge to regimes. However, their increased influence has not led to political power. Ibrahim A. Karawan argues that Islamist movements have been unable to form an effective and united opposition, and have therefore reached an impasse. Although regimes cannot afford to ignore their Islamist challengers, the Arab world is unlikely to witness a wave of Islamist take-overs. More than 17 years after the fall of the Shah, the Iranian revolution remains an isolated case in the Middle East. The growth of Islamism is fuelled by social, economic and political discontent. Islamist movements are not passing phenomena, but the actual political threat they pose will depend mainly on their ability to form broad coalitions, and on the willingness of regimes to introduce badly needed reforms. However, Islamist movements are divided over key issues of strategy and tactics. Regimes have exploited these divisions to contain their Islamist opponents, and have blended oppression and limited political accommodation to perpetuate their rule. Despite Islamist groups’ transnational language and ideology, national and sub-national issues drive their actions. Region-wide developments – notably the ‘oil revolution’ of the 1970s and Arab military defeats by Israel – are important in understanding the overall political climate, but they will not be crucial in deciding the outcome of the Islamist–regime confrontation. The influence of the West on Arab Islamism is also unlikely to be decisive. Islamist activism is stronger in areas with greater exposure to Western influences. States are therefore keen not to be seen as being too close to Western powers. In addition, there is no one Western stance towards Islamist movements, nor is there a unified assessment of the causes and policy implications of their resurgence. Contentious political issues confront Western powers, such as linking economic aid to human rights. Political and militant movements operating under the banner of Islamism are diverse. Their deep differences over the best means to achieve their objectives fragment their ranks and undermine their effectiveness. Although Arab regimes face many challenges, they have shown greater political resilience than analysts have expected.
Download or read book Syria from Reform to Revolt written by Raymond Hinnebusch and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-02 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Bashar al-Asad smoothly assumed power in July 2000, just seven days after the death of his father, observers were divided on what this would mean for the country’s foreign and domestic politics. On the one hand, it seemed everything would stay the same: an Asad on top of a political system controlled by secret services and Baathist one-party rule. On the other hand, it looked like everything would be different: a young president with exposure to Western education who, in his inaugural speech, emphasized his determination to modernize Syria. This volume explores the ways in which Asad’s domestic and foreign policy strategies during his first decade in power safeguarded his rule and adapted Syria to the age of globalization. The volume’s contributors examine multiple aspects of Asad’s rule in the 2000s, from power consolidation within the party and control of the opposition to economic reform, co-opting new private charities, and coping with Iraqi refugees. The Syrian regime temporarily succeeded in reproducing its power and legitimacy, in reconstructing its social base, and in managing regional and international challenges. At the same time, contributors clearly detail the shortcomings, inconsistencies, and risks these policies entailed, illustrating why Syria’s tenuous stability came to an abrupt end during the Arab Spring of 2011. This volume presents the work of an international group of scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Based on extensive fieldwork and on intimate knowledge of a country whose dynamics often seem complicated and obscure to outside observers, these scholars’ insightful snapshots of Bashar al-Asad’s decade of authoritarian upgrading provide an indispensable resource for understanding the current crisis and its disastrous consequences.
Download or read book Syria Under Assad written by Moshe Maoz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-26 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most striking recent developments in the modern Middle East has been the transformation of Syria under Hafez al-Assad from a weak, vulnerable and internally divided state to a leading regional power. While this is increasingly acknowledged by observers of the Middle Eastern scene , the scholarly discussion of the origins, the scope, the durability and the implications of this change is only beginning to take place. Syria Under Assad addresses itself to this discussion. Based on a carefully selected collection of original articles, this volume focuses on the elements of Syria’s power, on Syria’s relations with each of its neighbours as well as on Syria’s relations with the superpowers. In the final analysis, conclude the editors, Syrian policies appear paradoxical. Its conduct ever since the advent of Hafez al-Assad exhibits subtle and hard-nosed pragmatism. Yet, in order to consolidate the domestic legitimacy of the Alawi Ba’athist regime, Syria has been impelled to articulate its foreign policy goals in the far-flung rhetoric of the Ba’athist ideology. As a result Syria is widely perceived of as a menace and, treated as such, it often responds in kind.
Download or read book Putin s War in Syria written by Anna Borshchevskaya and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-04 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Skillfully lays out Mr. Putin's approach to the Middle East." Wall Street Journal "Detailed and fascinating." Diplomatic Courier Putin intervened in Syria in September 2015, with international critics predicting that Russia would overextend itself and Barack Obama suggesting the country would find itself in a “quagmire” in Syria. Contrary to this, Anna Borshchevskaya argues that in fact Putin achieved significant key domestic and foreign policy objectives without crippling costs, and is well-positioned to direct Syria's future and become a leading power in the Middle East. This outcome has serious implications for Western foreign policy interests both in the Middle East and beyond. This book places Russian intervention in Syria in this broader context, exploring Putin's overall approach to the Middle East – historically Moscow has a special relationship with Damascus – and traces the political, diplomatic, military and domestic aspects of this intervention. Borshchevskaya delves into the Russian military campaign, public opinion within Russia, as well as Russian diplomatic tactics at the United Nations. Crucially, this book illustrates the impact of Western absence in Syria, particularly US absence, and what the role of the West is, and could be, in the Middle East.
Download or read book Islamic Revivalism in Syria written by Line Khatib and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes Syria' s present day Islamic groups ' particularly their social profile and ideology ' as well as offering an explanation of their resurgence. It also examines the government' s shift from promoting secularism to muting secularism and co-opting Islamic sectors.
Download or read book Syria written by Alan George and published by Zed Books. This book was released on 2003-04 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the testimony of key players, "Syria: Neither Bread nor Freedom" recounts the drama of the "Damascus Spring" and its repression, and reveals what happens in a state like Syria to the institutions that occupy the political space between government and governed. From political parties to parliament; from the media to the judicial system and universities, the official veil of rhetoric and propaganda is lifted to reveal a system so demoralized and corrupted that power is wielded for no purpose but power itself; a system which, as Bashar al-Assad himself is discovering, is virtually incapable of reform.
Download or read book Syria From National Independence to Proxy War written by Linda Matar and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection aims to analytically reconceptualise the Syrian crisis by examining how and why the country has moved from a stable to a war-torn society. It is written by scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, all of whom make no attempt to speculate on the future trajectory of the conflict, but aim instead to examine the historical background that has laid the objective conditions for Syria’s descent to its current situation. Their work represents an attempt to dissect the multi-layered foundation of the Syrian conflict and to make understanding its complex inner workings accessible to a broader readership. The book is divided into four parts, each of which elaborates on the origins and dynamics of today’s crisis from the perspective of a different discipline. When put together, the four parts provide a holistic picture of Syria’s developmental trajectory from the early twentieth century through to the present day. Themes addressed include Syria’s postcolonial development efforts, its leap into socialism and then into neoliberalism in the late twentieth century, its politics within the resistance front, and finally its food and health security concerns.
Download or read book Major Issues in Islam written by Harvey J. Sindima and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-11-02 with total page 517 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores matters that have negatively affected the public image and led to distorted depictions of Islam from the late nineteenth century to the present. The areas of uneasiness and debate among Muslims and non-Muslims alike include Islamic values and identity in the post-caliphate era, after colonialism, and now under Western hegemony. There is anxiety about the place of Shari’a in the light of Western law and the state, secularism, democracy, human rights, the equality of women, and the place of Islamic education in transmitting Islamic values as secular education dominates societies. There are apprehensions over the relation between religion and politics as in the rise of Muslim Brotherhoods, Wahhabism, Islamism, al-Qaeda, and Islamic State. In non-Muslim countries concerns are about the status of Muslim marriage, polygamy, divorce, and interest (in business). Every topic is examined through the Noble Qur’an and the Hadith, classical writings, and linguistic analysis.
Download or read book Authoritarian Power And State Formation In Ba thist Syria written by Raymond A Hinnebusch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-28 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The social and economic forces that worked together to bring the Ba'thist party to power in 1963: the failure of traditional and liberal leadership, an agrarian crisis, the development of party ideology, the politicization of the army and rural mobilization - are examined in this study. Dr Hinnebusch aims to show how the Ba'th's road to power shaped its ideology and the character of its rule. Attention is then given to the pillars of state power - the army, political organizations and the peasantry. The author concludes that the regime has pursued a dual strategy for maintaining power - placing kin and clientelist networks at the levers of coercive power and building structures based on the mass incorporation of the rural population.
