Revolution in Syria : identity, networks, and repression / Kevin Mazur, Princeton University.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mazur, Kevin, 1982- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in comparative politics.

Cambridge studies in comparative politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Assad, Bashar, 1965-.

Assad, Bashar.

Syria--History--Civil War, 2011-.

Syria.

Syria--Politics and government--21st century.

Syria--Ethnic relations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 306 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

How does protest advancing diverse claims turn into violent conflict occurring primarily along ethnic lines? This book examines that question in the context of Syria, drawing insight from the evolution of conflict at the local level. Kevin Mazur shows that the challenge to the Syrian regime did not erupt neatly along ethnic boundaries, and that lines of access to state-controlled resources played a critical structuring role; the ethnicization of conflict resulted from failed incumbent efforts to shore up network ties and the violence that the Asad regime used to crush dissent by challengers excluded from those networks. Mazur uses variation in the political and demographic characteristics of locales to explain regime strategies, the roles played by local intermediaries, the choice between non-violent and violent resistance, and the salience of ethnicity. By drawing attention to cross-ethnic ties, the book suggests new strategies for understanding ostensibly ethnic conflicts beyond Syria.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Series information

Title page

Copyright information

Dedication

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

A Note on Transliteration

1 Introduction

The Patchwork of State-Society Linkages in Syria

Diverse Forms of Contention

Forms of Contention in the Syrian Uprising

Mechanisms Pushing Challenge toward Ethnic Violence

Incumbent Response and the Evolution of Challenger Action

Implications

Method and Data

Sources

Scope Conditions

Chapter Outline

2 Theory

Ethnicity and Ethnic Boundary Making

On the Distinctiveness of Religious Boundaries

Sectarianism and Ethnicity

Religion and Ethnicity in Syria

A Contentious Politics Approach to Ethnicization

The Polity Model

Revolutionary Situations

Forms of Contention

Defining Ethnic Civil War and Ethnicization

The Research Question Restated

Extant Explanations of Ethnicization

Cross-Ethnic Networks and Initial Challenge

Patchwork Political Control

Initial Forms of Contention

State Logics of Response

Concessions and Conciliation

''Counterinsurgency on the Cheap''

Regime Exigencies and Direct Coercion

Challenger-Incumbent Interaction and Ethnicization

Deurbanizing Challenge

Ethnic In-Group Policing

Drawing in Dense Local Networks

Ethnicization of Dense Local Networks

Contingent Ethnicization

Conclusion

3 Networks, Identities, and Patronage in Contemporary Syria

State Linkage in Informal Autocracies

Intermediaries and Informal Linkage

Modern State Institutions and Dependence on the State

Ethnicity and Informal Authoritarianism in Syria

Topography of Ethnic Boundaries

Political History of Syria

The Informal Bases of Power

State Linkage I: Patronage and State Building

State-Led Development and State Linkage.

Economic Change and Political Continuity in the 2000s

State-Provided Goods, Ethnicity, and Region

Informality in the Bureaucracy

Business Clientelism

State Linkage II: Informal Relations with Local Communities

Families and Network Density

Tribes and Dense Network Ties

Intermediary Ties to Densely Linked Local Communities

Tribal Linkages

Smuggling

Measuring Network Density: Indicators and Limitations

4 Events of the Syrian Uprising

The National-Level Picture of Contention

Disaggregating Contention

Data Sources

Temporal Trends in the Event Data

Variation by Town Size and Ethnicity

Patterns of Challenge

Patterns of Regime Action

Data Strengths and Limitations

Forms of Challenge

Variation in Forms of Contention across Space and Time

5 Initial Forms of Challenge

Citizenship-Focused Challenge

Challenge in Central Damascus

Organizing across Sites of Challenge

The Ethnic Dimension of Citizenship-Focused Challenge

Parochial Challenge

Local Solidarity and Challenge in Dar'a

Parochial Challenge Beyond Dar'a

Parochial Challenge and Ethnic Identities in Baniyas

Hybrid Popular Challenge

Homs

Spontaneous Urban Growth and State Complicity

Reproduction of Dense Network Ties

State Linkage

Events in Homs

Networks in Contention

Duma

Background: Urban Growth in Damascus

The Urban Fabric of Duma

Events in Duma

Composition of Duma Challengers

Salafism and Mobilization

6 State Networks and Nonparticipation

Patterns of Participation among Non-Sunnis

Non-Sunni Participation in Challenge

Regime Action to Stoke Ethnic Fear

In-Group Policing

ʿAlawis Integrated into Sunni Social Fabric

Local Tribal Networks and Demobilization

State Corporatism and Demobilization

Urban Centers.

Damascus

Aleppo

7 Logics of State Repression and Societal Response

Regime Strategies

Inductive Theorization of Major Violent Acts by State Agents

Observable Implications and Quantitative Evidence

Institutional Distortion

Prevention of Tahrir Square Tactics and Ethnicization

Effects of Prevention of Tahrir Square Tactics in Damascus

Raids to End Urban Civic Protest

Naming of Fridays and Ethnicization of the Online Narrative

Destruction of Citizenship-Focused Contention in a Minority Locale

Final Demise of the Urban Civic Revolt: The Failure of the Dignity Strike

Ethnic Discourse and Violence on the Damascus Periphery

Broken Negotiations

Broken Negotiation in Dar'a

Broken Negotiation in Baniyas

Violation of Established Patterns of Negotiation in Saraqib

Intermediaries' Refusal in Homs

Pulling New Actors into Challenge: Repression in Dayr al-Zur

Disproportionate Violence and Local Diffusion

Jisr al-Shughur: Disproportionate Regime Response and Insurrection in the Countryside

Local Diffusion in the Countryside

The International Dimension

8 Particularizing Challenge in Kurdish Areas

The Political Context

Settlement Patterns

Historical Relations with State Authorities

Political Parties, Families, and the Security Services

Kurds in the Syrian Uprising

Citizenship-Focused Contention, April-October 2011

Policing of Demonstrations in Kurdish-Dominated Spaces

Counterinsurgency on the Cheap in Kurdish-Dominated Spaces

The Killing of Mish'al Tammu and the Growth of Party Organizational Structure

Particularizing Kurdish Contention

The Growth of Party Organization and Fragmentation of Activist Networks

Relations with the Broader Opposition

9 Conclusion

Theoretical Implications

An Inevitable Conflict?.

Networks and Identities beyond the First Year of the Uprising

Implications for Syria in Civil War, 2012-2018

Implications for Postwar Syria

Appendix

Background on Event Data

Quantitative Analysis of Intra-Sunni Variation

Quantitative Analysis of State Response to Challenge

Chronology of Major Events in the First Year of the 2011 Syrian Uprising

References

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 18 Jun 2021).

ISBN:

1-108-90675-3

1-108-91063-7

1-108-91527-2

OCLC:

1295268618