Working Papers
Ethnic Divisions and The Onset of Civil Wars in Syria
No.
1384
Publisher
ERF
Date
March, 2020
Topic
F5. International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy
H5. National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
D7. Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
While most civil wars seem to have an economic basis, they are generally pushed by political, ethnic, and religious differences. This paper attempts to identify the drivers of the Syrian civil war of 2011 by investigating the role of ethnic divisions in starting a conflict. We integrate a variety of variables such as excluded population, power-sharing, anocracy, ethnic groups in addition to a number of economic factors. The main results indicate that ethnicity does not seem to be a very important factor in starting both the civil and ethnic conflict in Syria, but it shows that the lack of power-sharing to be the most significant factor. Therefore, where power in Syria was not inclusive and shared among different demographic segments, such as religious or urban groups, it created upheavals between different groups, as some groups disidentify with the state, paving the way to causing the conflict. Economic factors also provide an explanation of the onset of conflicts in Syria. The paper offers detailed policy suggestions that could serve as a recovery mechanism for the Syrian crisis and a preventive measurement for its reoccurrence.
Research Fellows
Salaheddin Abosedra
American University in Emirates
Research Fellows
Ali Fakih
Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Lebanese...
Authors
Nathir Haimoun
Department of Economics, University of Lethbridge, Alberta,...