Defected Civilian Civil Servants: Perceptions of Regime Strength in Syria

Abstract

This paper explores why Syrian civil servants decide to defect from the Syrian bureaucratic apparatus and how regime strength is perceived among these defectors. The paper contributes to existing studies on defection in which the main focus is often on military civil servants, by expanding the scope of the investigation to defections among civilian civil servants working in public administration. The analytical framework of ‘state infrastructural power’ guides the study. The results of the investigation indicate that defections take place, not as a result of perceived regime strength through military and territorial control, but rather as a result of perceived illegitimate rule by the regime. The material consists of semi-structured interviews with 13 high-level civilian civil servants that defected from the Syrian state apparatus between June 2011 and March 2013.