Bashar al-Assad Research Articles

Recognition of different strategy in response to developments in Syria

The Syrian crisis is one of the most challenging security and political events within side the Middle East. Each of the actors within side the worldwide area has taken one-of-a-kind strategies to the traits in Syria primarily based totally on their interests. The strategy of the USA and Russia as two world superpowers has continuously been manifested in various forms. The purpose of this study was to understand the type of strategy of the USA and Russia towards the developments in Syria. The research question was “what policy do the USA and Russia pursue in their new strategy towards the developments in Syria?” In response to the question, it has been hypothesized that the USA has pursued an aggressive and active policy towards the developments in Syria so as to realize its interests and goals, whereas Russia’s strategy in Syria has been to support the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Therefore, in the current study, va-rious aspects of the US and Russian strategies in response to the Syrian crisis have been studied and evaluated using descriptive-analytical methods.

Barack Obama’s diplomacy and the syrian peace process

The article is devoted to the diplomatic activity of the first and second administrations of Barack Obama to resolve the Syrian civil war. Changes in the attitude of the United States towards the government of Bashar al-Assad, as well as forced attempts to change power in the country according to the Libyan model, both through the UN Security Council and through the Friends of Syria Group, are considered. The study analyzes the participation of the United States in the Geneva peace process on Syria, their role in this process, as well as the importance attached to the peace talks by the White House. In addition, attention is paid to the Russian-American ceasefire agreements reached in 2016. Conclusions are drawn about the degree of responsibility of Barack Obama's diplomacy for the actual collapse of the Geneva peace process.

The Role of United Nation in Addressing Human Rights Violations on Syria’s Internal Conflicts

Background: Syria is one of many Arab countries in the Middle East that are undergoing revolution and civil war. It was motivated by the authoritarian attitude of the government and the economic downturn that occurred until there was popular resistance to Bashar al-Assad's regime. This conflict in Syria has attracted worldwide attention, because one of these cases in Syria has entered into the most glaring case today, namely regarding human rights violations. Aim: This paper is intended to discuss the role of the United Nations (UN) in human rights violations in the Syrian conflict, the conflict in Syria the ruling government that uses the tools of the state (military) to deal with protests by its people, thus, triggers a domestic battle between the government (the ruling regime of Bashar al-Assad) and the civilians. Method: This paper uses qualitative research techniques with role theory analysis, with a realist theory approach, namely by describing the roles of international organizations (United Nations) where through secondary data, produce descriptive data according to analysis and existing facts of the subject or object observed. Findings: Efforts by the UN and the international community to uphold human rights in Syria are to send former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to trade in Syria, as well as the Arab League, which calls for opposition groups to unite and proposes the establishment of a transitional government on the proposal of the UN.

Securitization and Identity: The Speech Acts of Bashar al-Assad

Security is one of the crucial concepts in International Relations. Due to diversity of the security issues encountered by the states, there is a lack of consensus on the definition of the concept. The traditional understanding of the security focuses on threats militarily and state was at the center. However, different approaches emerged to re-conceptualize the concept by the end of the Cold War. The Copenhagen School and its offshoot securitization is one of these approaches which is being frequently used in International Relations. The aim of this study is to analyze the securitization process of opposition, different identities and other actors by President Bashar al-Assad during the Civil War. This research argues that the opposition is securitized with the help of different identities in order to convince both Syrians and regional and international actors so that the securitizing actor can take the extraordinary measures. This study conducts the methods of literature review to clarify the concept of securitization and under which conditions it took place and discourse and content analysis to highlight the speech acts of Bashar al-Assad during the process. To this end, 46 different speeches and interviews of President Bashar al-Assad are analyzed. In all, it is concluded that speeches/discourses adopted by Assad had implications which served the aims and the targets of his rule and government during the Syrian Civil War.

Tashbih: The Logic of Annihilation of the Other

Abstract Tashbih, in Syrian vernacular, has long referred to a diverse constellation of practices and acts—invariably illegal and often articulated with violence or the threat of violence—perpetrated by individuals and groups, the Shabbiha, with deep (often kin-based) ties to the Baathist regime of President Hafez al-Assad and later his son, Bashar al-Assad. The ebb and flow of the role played by the Shabbiha since then and the meaning of Tashbih in Syria’s political culture has followed closely the fortunes of their patron, the Assad regime. This article will sketch the origins of the term, its underlying practices and antagonisms, and trace the fluctuation and diffusion of its meaning and application particularly following the 2011 uprising in Syria.

Infiltrators among Us

Abstract This article focuses on the word ‘Mundas’ (plural Mundasīn), which literally translates as ‘infiltrator’, and was one of the words most frequently used to describe those opposing the Syrian regime. The word was rarely used within the Syrian political repertoire before the outset of the revolution. However, it soon became a marker separating those who supported President Bashar al-Assad from those who did not. In the context of the Syrian war, the Mundasīn, according to the regime’s narrative, hide within the masses of al-Assad’s supporters, creating disorder, and do not reflect the demands of the ‘good’ Syrian people. As claimed by this official narrative and emphasized by its media, those infiltrators were radicalized terrorists invited from abroad to generate chaos in Syria. Consequently, the armed forces of the regime blamed these Mundasīn and allegedly had no choice but to repress protests in order to protect peaceful demonstrators from their brutality. The article explores the origin of Mundas and the ways it was used within Syrian media. It reflects on the divergent interpretations and uses of the word as a common expression identifying oneself and asserting membership in a certain group on the one hand and challenges the negative meaning of the word advocated by the government and its agencies on the other. It also researches the word’s evolution within social media platforms, in both texts and graphics, and discusses popular uses in caricature drawings, slogans and songs.

Romancing the Nation

Abstract Spanning the era of the two Assads (father and son) up to 2007 (the referendum year confirming Bashar al-Assad’s continuation as president) and songs produced during the war, this study will explore the role of ‘love’ (hub) and its relation to ‘blood’ (dam) in the continuity and persistence of heroism in the national narrative. As a form of politics, love and blood have served the Baathist state in obtaining and using power and domination. This article investigates the various ways love as a political tool has been instrumentalized to legitimize the regime and construct national ties and unity. As such, this study interrogates the connection between the sacralization of the nation and the construction of love as a political and cultural tool to subject loyalty and subordination in political culture. Understanding discursive appropriations of love in this way offers a fresh perspective into the meaning—and most importantly, the politics—of love in modern Syria and its relation to Baathism, the Syrian uprising, and popular culture. In this context, the use of the term ‘love’ (hub) by the opposition has become a confirmatory tool of the regime’s illegitimacy. While ‘love’ as a political tool has been instrumentalized by the Syrian Baath regime to consolidate authority, the citizenry now faces many challenges. One of these is not only reversing this imposed ‘love’ with hate or anger towards the regime, but more importantly, rationalizing nationhood and national membership by focusing on establishing civic engagement and representation.

The Positive-self and Negative-other Representation in Bashar Al-Assad’s First Political Speech After the Syrian Uprising

This study examines Positive-self and Negative-other representation expressed in the Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad’s first political speech in March 2011. This study investigates the way Al-Assad uses language as a tool to express his ideology and attitudes towards protests and the world’s leading countries, and thus to win conflicts and gain power. Therefore, this study scrutinises the negative-other representation of Al-Assad’s opponents and rival parties and what ideologies are reflected in this speech. It also examines the positive-self representation in relation to Al-Assad’s ruling party (Ba’ath) and the Syrian regime’s supporters. T. van Dijk (2002) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is utilised to highlight the way these representations are exhibited in the speech. An in-depth analysis is conducted to allow the identification of the strategies and techniques used in the speech analysed, following T. van Dijk (2002)ideological square.

Understanding Colonialism and Decolonization in Iran’s Contemporary Socio-Political Discourse

The article analyzes the perception of colonialism and anti-colonial struggle in modern Iran. The Iranian authorities attach particular importance to the anti-colonial struggle and condemnation of the colonial practices of the West, taking into account not only formal colonization, but also the actual subordination of formally independent states to the will of Western powers. In this regard, particular importance is attached to liberate the oppressed of the whole world. The purpose of the study is to examine the history of colonialism in Iran, the views of the spiritual leaders, presidents and senior officials of Iran on issues of colonialism and anti-colonial struggle, to identify historical events and personalities who played a key role in the anti-colonial movement in Iran. For this purpose, the materials of the Iranian agency IRNA and the speeches of Iranian spiritual leaders were analyzed. A statistical analysis of the most common terms on the subject of colonialism was also carried out. As a result, it was found that the Iranian discourse focuses on condemning the crimes of the West, especially the United States and Israel, against Muslims, as well as praising the resistance of the Iranian people to colonialism in the past and present, with an emphasis on the special role of Ayatollah Khomeini in the Iranian anti-colonial movement. Western colonialism in Iran is divided into several aspects: war crimes committed in the countries conquered by the West, preventing the free development of weaker countries, the struggle to change independent and patriotic regimes and impose rulers ineffective and obedient to Western elites on the peoples, and the imposition of destructive manifestations of Western culture. In addition, the Iranian policy in the Middle East is praised as being driven by noble motives and aiming to provide all possible assistance to the peoples of the region to achieve liberation from the colonialists. The case of Syria is cited as an important example of Iran’s anti-colonial struggle in the Middle East, when Iran helped the government of Bashar al-Assad to regain control of the country and to defeat the armed opposition.

Features of the political transformation of Syria

The article analyses the theoretical and methodological aspects of the study of political transformation in the Arab world, threats to security and stability in the Middle East, and the problem of political transformation in terms of modern political science, in particular, threats to security and stability in Syria. The main trends in the development of Syria's political transformation and the formation of the main factors determining it are studied. A comparative analysis of the foreign policy of Syrian Presidents Hafez Assad and Bashar al-Assad shows that the political transformation has made certain changes in the concept of the country's foreign policy. The impact of the Syrian crisis on security and stability in the region, as well as national interests, and the policy of official Damascus in the process of “bringing democracy” to the Middle East have been studied. The causes and conditions of the Syrian crisis and the essence of the reforms carried out in the country have been revealed. The impact of new geopolitical and geostrategic factors on Syria in the Middle East has been systematically analyzed. Threats to security and stability in the Middle East due to globalization have determined the nature of political processes in the region, and the interference of external forces in these processes has led to the conflict in Syria. Prospects for sustainable development in Syria and problems in ensuring national security have been studied. It is stated that the priorities of the criteria for democratization and liberalization of domestic political life should be determined on the basis of the national and historical and cultural traditions of the country.

Physician, then Political Dictator: Bashar al-Assad, President of the Syrian Arab Republic

This article examines the life influences and circumstances that enabled President Bashar al-Assad to shift from the practice of medicine to becoming a brutal political dictator. Assad is one among the few members of the medical community who have transitioned from doctor to political dictator. Widely known for his deadly rule over Syria, his formal education and training were in medicine, specializing in ophthalmology. He graduated from Damascus Medical University, briefly practiced in a Syrian military hospital, and later sought to advance his training at the Western Eye Hospital in London. Following his father’s death, Bashar al-Assad assumed power and has ruled Syria as its president for over 20 years. Using psychobiography, this case study assesses Bashar al-Assad’s brutal transformation from doctor to dictator. His leadership sophistication and social elevation were originally enhanced from his upbringing as the second son of the President of Syria and his training as a physician. While he initially chose to specialize in Ophthalmology, reportedly because of the reduced exposure to blood, al-Assad is responsible for the deaths and disappearance of approximately 500,000 people

Syrian Refugees In Lebanon: “New Community” In Lebanon’s Confessional Political System

The paper analyzes the Syrian refugee crisis in neighboring countries, mostly in Lebanon. Syria’s neighborhood hosts currently about 5.5 million forcibly displaced Syrians who have fled the crisis since its onset in 2011. More than 3.4 million Syrians are registered in Turkey and around 2 million in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt (World Bank 2016). According to the UNHCR (2017), the small Lebanese state hosts today around 1.5 million registered Syrians, making it the country with the highest number of refugees per capita (Yasmin 2022). How has Lebanon’s political system dealt with the Syrian refugee issue and how have Syrian refugees – a new “non-core group”(Harris 2012) in Lebanon’s society – interacted with the state’s confessional configuration of power? How has Lebanon’s political system framed and accommodated an external “minority” in the context of a refugee-producing conflict and how has the political discourse constructed the issue of large-scale displacement? The conflict in Syria between the government of Bashar al-Assad and various other forces, which started in the spring of 2011, continues to cause displacement within the country and across the region. At the end of 2018, Syrians continued to be the largest forcibly displaced population, with 13.0 million people living in displacement, including 6,654,000 refugees, 6,184,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) and 140,000 asylum seekers (Ferris, Kiris ci, Shaikh 2013; UN OCHA 2016).

Syrian Refugees In Lebanon: “New Community” In Lebanon’s Confessional Political System

The paper analyzes the Syrian refugee crisis in neighboring countries, mostly in Lebanon. Syria’s neighborhood hosts currently about 5.5 million forcibly displaced Syrians who have fled the crisis since its onset in 2011. More than 3.4 million Syrians are registered in Turkey and around 2 million in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt (World Bank 2016). According to the UNHCR (2017), the small Lebanese state hosts today around 1.5 million registered Syrians, making it the country with the highest number of refugees per capita (Yasmin 2022). How has Lebanon’s political system dealt with the Syrian refugee issue and how have Syrian refugees – a new “non-core group”(Harris 2012) in Lebanon’s society – interacted with the state’s confessional configuration of power? How has Lebanon’s political system framed and accommodated an external “minority” in the context of a refugee-producing conflict and how has the political discourse constructed the issue of large-scale displacement? The conflict in Syria between the government of Bashar al-Assad and various other forces, which started in the spring of 2011, continues to cause displacement within the country and across the region. At the end of 2018, Syrians continued to be the largest forcibly displaced population, with 13.0 million people living in displacement, including 6,654,000 refugees, 6,184,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) and 140,000 asylum seekers (Ferris, Kiris ci, Shaikh 2013; UN OCHA 2016).

The Painful Road to Freedom in Maram al-Masri’sElle Va Nue la Liberté(Freedom Walks Naked)

AbstractThis essay examines the poetry of the Francophone author Maram al-Masri, a diasporic feminist poet from Syria who has lived in exile in Paris since 1992. Elle va nue la liberté is an indictment of the regime of Bashar al-Assad and an ode to the creative resilience of ordinary people during the Syrian revolution (2011). This essay demonstrates how al-Masri’s poetry grafts landscapes of pain and resistance in a poetics of the gut that bears witness to horror, trauma, and resistance. It focuses on the trope of blood writing, documentary poetry or poésie-vérité, and the poet’s sense of exile in France.

Perilaku Destruktif Dalam Politik Standar Ganda Amerika Serikat Terhadap Demokratisasi Mesir dan Suriah

Hypocrisy is a trait that is very hated in Islam and is a disgraceful trait for its adherents. Hypocrisy is a trait possessed by the enemies of Islam who want to destroy the glory of Islam from within, even trying to destroy Islamic countries, especially those in the Middle East, where Islam first appeared and spread widely among Arabs. This paper aims to find out the practice of hypocritical behavior that occurs at the country level by using a qualitative method that focuses on a literature approach, That is by collecting data obtained from various references in the form of articles, journals, books and research related to material objects and formal objects which are then analyzed using the conspiracy theory of Robert O Zelency (1987). The result of this research is the double standard political success played by the United States who wants to control the oil fields in Egypt and Syria under the guise of calling for democratization in the government system. America acts as a friend to Egypt in the process of transitioning from authoritarian power to democracy and has been very active in guarding the decline of Hosni Mubarak from his leadership, while in Syria, America has supported opposition groups to overthrow a legitimate government that is considered to be running the government in a dictatorial way. America also provided assistance to opposition groups in the form of weapons to expedite the process of overthrowing Bashar Al-Assad from power. America's double-standard politics towards Egypt and Syria is a project undertaken to realize a larger agenda in the geopolitical national political arena.

Neither peace nor democracy: the role of siege and population control in the Syrian regime’s coercive counterinsurgency campaign

ABSTRACT This article examines the role of siege warfare and population control in the coercive counterinsurgency strategy used by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad to effectively crush the revolution that began in 2011. We extend the coercive counterinsurgency framework offered by Monica Duffy Toft and Yuri Zhukov to analyze the Syrian regime’s use of the twin tactical pillars of siege warfare and population control. We focus on how these two types of denial – military and political – proved essential to the regime’s military victory.

Assessing the Implementation of Open-Door Policy in Managing Syrian Refugees in Germany (2015)

The humanitarian crisis has happened in Syria. Syria has been suffering the dynamics of conflict in their countries spurred by the war under Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, which caused the forced migration by its citizens to the surrounding countries in 2015 through a massive influx of refugees. Germany is one of Europe's countries experiencing the most significant refugee dynamic”evidenced by the development of refugees in that period. Based on that, this qualitative research aims to understand the fundamental reason for various social events, especially for the German government implementing the Open-Door Policy on Syrian refugees. Methodologically, in data processing technique using library research supported by multiple news portals and scientific journals to help the analysis become very appropriate. As a result, this article signifies Germany's decision regarding the Open-Door Policy on refugees from Syria through human security glasses. It refers to economic security and political security. Densely, Germany provides many opportunities as workers in Germany related to its labor market development. Germany has limited the Syrian refugee's activities and provided by the quality of speaking in Germany like what Angela Merkel has said, instead of talking about the national duty on a humanitarian basis by the policy she did.

Sober masculinity and nurturing femininity: a gendered analysis of the Syrian presidency Instagram account

Since July 2013, Syrianpresidency, the “official Instagram account for the Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic” has featured a high percentage of photos of President Bashar al-Assad and of his wife, Asma. This article takes Syrianpresidency as an important aspect of the Assad government’s digital public diplomacy, because of its strong visuality. Using case study and content analysis approaches, it surveys a sample of Instagram posts from January 2016, when the Syrian military began retaking territory from ISIS, through March 2020, covering Syria’s initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that Syrianpresidency frames the Assads for a regional and international audience through the lens of a ‘gendered modernity,’ portraying them as companionate spouses serving Syrians in complementary ways. Syrianpresidency aims its public diplomacy at domestic and foreign audiences, working to project a positive image as part of its efforts to manage and ultimately end the Syria conflict. In doing so, it engages in an updated form of what Wedeen terms ‘as-if’ politics and a politics of erasure, effacing the regime’s violence and citizen resistance through silence.

Demokratyczny konfederalizm jako alternatywny ustrój dla Autonomicznej Administracji Północnej i Wschodniej Syrii

This article is an attempt to present the regime of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria as an alternative to the entire state. It explores the ideology of Abdullah Öcalan, which is the foundation of this regime. It also analyses the systemic assumptions characteristic of the democratic autonomy in Rojava, and then in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The thesis of the article is that the proposal for a new regime is a huge challenge for the people of these parts of Syria, President Bashar al-Assad and the international environment, in particular Turkey. The success of this project is difficult to assess as it depends on too many variables of an internal and international nature.

Ирано-сирийские отношения в период «сирийской весны»

The article analyzes the stages of the formation of the Iranian policy regarding the “Syrian spring” and the regime of Bashar al-Assad in the context of the implementation of the concept of “Islamic Awakening”.