Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2020
Publication Title
Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism
Abstract
The Syrian conflict presents as a case that has been well-studied in the power-sharing literature. It is typically coded as an ethno-sectarian civil war moving towards a decisive military victory by an authoritarian regime and thus unlikely to end in a power-sharing agreement. Yet Syria’s experience offers important insights into the effects of new conflict environments on prospects for power-sharing in ‘hard’ cases. Syria’s conflict exhibits attributes and is unfolding in an environment that requires rethinking simplistic correlations between the military and political outcomes of civil wars. Moreover, the form of political settlement that emerges in Syria may also complicate assumptions about the ability of victors to shape the terms of post war settlements unilaterally. Whether a power-sharing agreement is reached in Syria – however remote the prospects for that might be – will be determined by factors that underscore the impact changing conflict contexts can have on how civil wars end.
Volume
20
Issue
2
First Page
153
Last Page
160
DOI
doi.org/10.1111/sena.12331
Recommended Citation
Heydemann, Steven, "The Syrian Conflict: Proxy War, Pyrrhic Victory, and Power Sharing Agreements" (2020). Middle East Studies: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/mes_facpubs/11
Comments
Archived as published. Open Access paper.
From: Special Issue: Challenges to Power‐Sharing in the Post‐Uprisings Arab World