Syrian Conflict Dilemmas And Challenges In Peaceful Settlement

Academic Paper from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: Excellent, , course: MA in Peace and Conflict Studies, language: English, abstract: With too many International and Regional interest groups involved in the Syrian war, this paper analyses why the Syrian conflict is so complex, why the international effort to peace negotiations failed. At the end it tries to find options for a peaceful settlement.

Five years into the ongoing and tragic conflict, the paper analyzes how Syria’s economy and its people have been affected and outlines the challenges in rebuilding the economy. With extreme limitations on information, the findings of the paper are subject to an extraordinary degree of uncertainty. The key messages are: (1) that the devastating civil war has set the country back decades in terms of economic, social and human development. Syria’s GDP today is less than half of what it was before the war started and it could take two decades or more for Syria to return to its pre-conflict GDP levels; and that (2) while reconstructing damaged physical infrastructure will be a monumental task, rebuilding Syria’s human and social capital will be an even greater and lasting challenge.

The current conflict in Syria has killed more than 80,000 people and displaced four million, yet most observers predict that the worst is still to come. And for two years, the international community has failed to take action. World leaders have repeatedly resolved not to let atrocities happen in plain view, but the legacy of the bloody and costly intervention in Iraq has left policymakers with little appetite for more military operations. So we find ourselves in the grip of a double burden: the urge to stop the bleeding in Syria, and the fear that attempting to do so would be Iraq redux. What should be done about the apparently intractable Syrian conflict? This book focuses on the ethical and political dilemmas at the heart of the debate about Syria and the possibility of humanitarian intervention in today's world. The contributors--Syria experts, international relations theorists, human rights activists, and scholars of humanitarian intervention--don't always agree, but together they represent the best political thinking on the issue. The Syria Dilemma includes original pieces from Michael Ignatieff, Mary Kaldor, Radwan Ziadeh, Thomas Pierret, Afra Jalabi, and others. Contributors: Asli Bâli, Richard Falk, Tom Farer, Charles Glass, Shadi Hamid, Nader Hashemi, Christopher Hill, Michael Ignatieff, Afra Jalabi, Rafif Jouejati, Mary Kaldor, MarcLynch, Vali Nasr, Thomas Pierret, Danny Postel, Aziz Rana, Christoph Reuter, Kenneth Roth, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Fareed Zakaria, Radwan Ziadeh, Stephen Zunes

The Syrian civil war, now in its seventh year, continues to present new challenges for U.S. policymakers. Following a deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria on April 4, 2017, and subsequent U.S. strikes against Syrian military infrastructure and pro-regime forces, Members of Congress have called on the President to consult with Congress about Syria strategy. Other Members have questioned the President's authority to launch strikes against Syria in the absence of specific prior authorization from Congress. In the past, some in Congress have expressed concern about the international and domestic authorizations for such strikes, their potential unintended consequences, and the possibility of undesirable or unavoidable escalation. Since taking office in January 2017, President Trump has stated his intention to "destroy" the Syria- and Iraq-based insurgent terrorist group known as the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL, ISIS, or the Arabic acronym Da'esh), and the President has ordered actions to "accelerate" U.S. military efforts against the group in both countries. In late March, senior U.S. officials signaled that the United States would prioritize the fight against the Islamic State and said that Syrian President Bashar al Asad's future would be determined by the Syrian people. Nevertheless, following the April 4 attack, President Trump and senior members of his Administration have spoken more critically of Asad's leadership, and it remains to be seen whether the United States will more directly seek to compel Asad's departure from power while pursuing the ongoing campaign against the Islamic State. Since late 2015, Asad and his government have leveraged military, financial, and diplomatic support from Russia and Iran to improve and consolidate their position relative to the range of antigovernment insurgents arrayed against them. These insurgents include members of the Islamic State, Islamist and secular fighters, and Al Qaeda-linked networks. While Islamic State forces have lost territory to the Syrian government, to Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups, and to U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters since early 2016, they remain capable and dangerous. The IS "capital" at Raqqah has been isolated, but large areas of central and eastern Syria remain under the group's control. The presence and activities of Russian military forces and Iranian personnel in Syria create complications for U.S. officials and military planners, and raise the prospect of inadvertent confrontation with possible regional or global implications. Since March 2011, the conflict has driven more than 5 million Syrians into neighboring countries as refugees (out of a total prewar population of more than 22 million). More than 6.3 million other Syrians are internally displaced and are among more than 13.5 million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance. The United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to the Syria crisis (which includes assistance to neighboring countries hosting refugees), and since FY2012 has allocated more than $6.5 billion to meet humanitarian needs. In addition, the United States has allocated more than $500 million to date for bilateral assistance programs in Syria, including the provision of nonlethal equipment to select opposition groups. President Trump has requested $191.5 million in FY2018 funding for such assistance and $500 million in FY2018 defense funds to train and equip anti-IS forces in Syria. U.S. officials and Members of Congress continue to debate how best to pursue U.S. regional security and counterterrorism goals in Syria without inadvertently strengthening U.S. adversaries or alienating U.S. partners. The Trump Administration and Members of the 115th Congress-like their predecessors-face challenges inherent to the simultaneous pursuit of U.S. nonproliferation, counterterrorism, civilian protection, and stabilization goals in a complex, evolving conflict.

The fourth volume in this series contains insightful analyses on a variety of international problems within the context of refugee issue. Contributions in this volume are as follows: Ahmet Sapmaz “Refugees and Security”; Saadat Demirci “Refugees, Migration and Security Threats”; Hüsmen Akdeniz “The Impact of Irregular Migration on Security in the Framework of Changing Security Context”; Mehmet Emin Erendor “Refugees and Terrorism”; Burak Şakir Şeker and Hasret Çomak “Mena Versus Europe: Arising Dimensions of Mediterranean Maritime Security”; Cem Oğultürk “The Impact of Food Insecurity on Migration and Conflict in the Horn of Africa”; Burak Şakir Şeker and Hasret Çomak “Migration by Sea: Libyan Case and EU Approach”; Neziha Musaoğlu “Demografic, Economic, Political and Legal Dimensions of the Russian Federation’s Migration Policy”; Ainur Nogayeva “Central Asian Fighters and their Families in Syria: Refugees or Terrorists?”; Murat Pinar and Soyalp Tamçelik “Determining the Socio-Economic and Security Impacts of Rohingya Refugees on Neighbouring Countries: Bangladesh and India”; Ferdi Güçyetmez “Immigration and Belonging Issue on the American - Mexico Border”; Zekeriya Alperen Bedirhan “The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca)”; Akın Sağıroğlu and İlhan Aras “The Issue of Immigration in the United States Elections: A Look at Trump-Era”; Saadet Çalişkan Ciğer “An Alternative Solution to Problems Arising in Refugee Crises: Humanitarian Space and Humanitarian System”; Murat Koray “Developing Effective Resilience Based Strategies for Refugees”; Tarık Demir “Enclavity and Refugees”; and Sezin İba Gürsoy “Refugee and Climate Change”.

The accords and protocols that underlie the Arab and Israeli peace agreements set into place economic policies and political processes so flawed that they are bound to fail. The chapters in this volume look at the diplomatic and historical precedents that have led to this situation and they debate - some cynically and some sympathetically - the reasons why the institutional structures and trade regimes the process has created are so weak. But for whatever reason, the structural flaws built into the Middle East peace process are not only biased toward the dominant players but against the people who most want peace.

The book surveys comparative power sharing models implemented in societies that have faced identity-conflicts, with attention given to post-conflict design. It analyzes the success and pitfalls of international experiences before proposing a model for Syria. Contributors address the central question: which among the set of power-sharing agreements that have helped settle protracted identity-driven armed conflict can provide Syria with a platform for dialogue, negotiation, and conflict mitigation? The comparative analysis advanced in this book extracts lessons from countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Mali, Northern Ireland, the Philippines and Sudan. The prospect of a post-conflict distribution of power in Syria is then unraveled from different sectarian, ethnic and regional perspectives. The authors also address challenges of peacebuilding such as violent extremism, gender participation, resettlements, retributions, transitional justice, integration of armed groups and regional and international sponsorship.

The much-heralded economic benefits of the neo-liberal free market economy have not materialised. Instead we see across the world, among others, growing inequality in terms of the distribution of wealth and income, which has led to such popular responses as the Occupy Wall Street movement in the US and the antiausterity demonstrations in Europe. And indeed neo-liberal deregulation to create a ‘free market’ for the financial institutions led to the world financial and economic crisis which started in the US in 2008 – the worst global economic crisis since the 1929 Depression, again in the US. Given all the foregoing, what is called for are alternative and progressive voices which are able to offer different interpretations and readings of the fastunfolding events and processes, and are also capable of questioning the prevailing assumptions and underlying logic of the Western ‘liberal order’. This is the same order that must bear much of the responsibility for the current state of despair, hopelessness, and cynicism in international relations. These alternative and progressive voices are especially important for us as Africans, given the reality that Africa remains marginalised in terms of helping to fashion these relations, despite their direct impact on the lives and destiny of the one billion Africans. This is further compounded by the weakness of the African voice even about African developments.