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Background and causes of the Syrian revolution
This article discusses the background and reasons that contributed to the outbreak of the Syrian revolution. What began as large-scale peaceful protests in March 2011 as part of the 2010–11 Arab Spring protests that reverberated across the Arab World, eventually escalated into a civil war following the brutal crackdown by Assad regime's security apparatus.
The Ba'athist government in Syria was constructed by General Hafez al-Assad, who came to power through a coup in 1970 and purged the Arab Socialist Ba'ath party of rivals led by Salah Jadid. The regime structure consisted of three parts: a powerful Ba'ath party organization which has extensive control over the Syrian society, a formidable security apparatus – consisting of secret police, Ba'athist paramilitaries and Syrian military establishment – glued to the party's Central Command, in addition to upper-class Alawite elites who are loyal to the Assad dynasty. Hafez al-Assad's dictatorship lasted for three decades; characterized by extensive socio-political repression, censorship, human rights abuses, and systematic mass violence unleashed on civilian populations through brutal tactics such as massacres, forced disappearances and torture. After Hafez al-Assad's death in 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad became the President and inherited the totalitarian system of Ba'athist Syria.
While Bashar al-Assad continued to strongly espouse the socialist doctrines of Ba'athism; he started to gear Syria towards a socialist market economy by loosening Ba'ath party's grip on the economy and opening up private sectors. Syrian economy was largely supported by oil exports, which enabled to fund various industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. At the onset of the Arab Spring protests and eruption of Syrian revolution in 2011, Syria's economic situation was considered dire, with rising inflation, high unemployment rates, corruption and the socio-political atmosphere was characterized by heavy repression. These were a direct consequence of economic liberalization of 2000s; which skyrocketed socio-economic inequalities, increased corruption and cronyism of party oligarchs; thereby drastically alienating the middle and working classes. New monopolies in agrarian sector acquired by pro-government oligarchs and government's mismanagement of the droughts of 2006-11 worsened the living conditions of the peasants, causing widespread disenchantment and exacerbation of rural-urban divisions.
Although official figures put the unemployment rate at 8.1 percent in 2009, Syrian economists estimate it at 24.4 percent. In 2010, the overall poverty rate was 34.3%, while the poverty rate in rural areas was about 62%. Poverty declined between 1997 and 2004 but began to rise in the second half of the 2000s. According to the World Bank, over 20% of Syrians were living in poverty before 2011. The poverty rate had been steadily increasing since the early 2000s due to rising food prices, an influx of refugees, and a decrease in private sector employment. The poorest region in Syria prior to 2011 was the northeast region, particularly the governorate of Raqqa. This region was characterized by low levels of development, poverty and a lack of economic opportunities.
Between 2007 and 2010, Syria experienced its worst drought on instrumental record, made more likely by climate change. It has been proposed that the drought caused the collapse of agriculture in Syria and contributed to increased migration and contributed to the escalation of violence in 2011, although more recent analyses in Political Geography and Nature have challenged this narrative.
Ba'athist Syria under the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad has been widely described as the most "ruthless police state" in the Arab World; having enforcing a wide range of restrictions on the free movement of civilians, independent journalists and unauthorized individuals. The police state apparatus was established in the 1970s by Hafez al-Assad who ran a military dictatorship with the Ba'ath party as its civilian cover. At the apex of the system are the Assad family loyalists from various Alawite clans who dominate the armed forces, Mukhabarat and weld heavy influence over the political system; tasked with the objective of pacifying the general populations. Alongside North Korea and Eritrea, Assad regime operates one of the largest censorship mechanisms that regulate the transfer of information. Reporters Without Borders listed Syria as the 6th worst country in its 2010 Press Freedom Index.
After winning the 2007 presidential election in Syria with 99.82% of the declared votes, Bashar al-Assad implemented numerous measures that further intensified political and cultural repression. Numerous journalists were arrested and independent press centres were shut down. Syrian government intensifed its censorship of the Internet; banning access to more than 200 websites, including sites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, etc. Internet centres were allowed to operate only after the prior authorization of Syrian surveillance agencies. In 2007, the Syrian government enacted a law that forced Internet cafes to keep records of all online comments posted by users in chat forums, as well as their browsing habits. Several individuals who used internet cafes were arrested and reports emerged of the existence of specialized prison centres that detained individuals accused of "internet crimes".
In November 2007, Facebook was banned in Syria. In December, Syrian government launched a large-scale domestic crackdown, arresting more than 30 political dissidents and civil society activists who advocated gradual changes within the political system. After 2006, Assad government expanded travel bans against numerous dissidents, intellectuals, authors and artists living in Syria; preventing them and their families from travelling abroad. In September 2010, The Economist newspaper described Syrian government as "the worst offender among Arab states", that engaged in imposing travel bans and restricted free movement of people. More than 400 individuals in Syria were reportedly restricted by Assad regime's travel bans in 2010.
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Background and causes of the Syrian revolution
This article discusses the background and reasons that contributed to the outbreak of the Syrian revolution. What began as large-scale peaceful protests in March 2011 as part of the 2010–11 Arab Spring protests that reverberated across the Arab World, eventually escalated into a civil war following the brutal crackdown by Assad regime's security apparatus.
The Ba'athist government in Syria was constructed by General Hafez al-Assad, who came to power through a coup in 1970 and purged the Arab Socialist Ba'ath party of rivals led by Salah Jadid. The regime structure consisted of three parts: a powerful Ba'ath party organization which has extensive control over the Syrian society, a formidable security apparatus – consisting of secret police, Ba'athist paramilitaries and Syrian military establishment – glued to the party's Central Command, in addition to upper-class Alawite elites who are loyal to the Assad dynasty. Hafez al-Assad's dictatorship lasted for three decades; characterized by extensive socio-political repression, censorship, human rights abuses, and systematic mass violence unleashed on civilian populations through brutal tactics such as massacres, forced disappearances and torture. After Hafez al-Assad's death in 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad became the President and inherited the totalitarian system of Ba'athist Syria.
While Bashar al-Assad continued to strongly espouse the socialist doctrines of Ba'athism; he started to gear Syria towards a socialist market economy by loosening Ba'ath party's grip on the economy and opening up private sectors. Syrian economy was largely supported by oil exports, which enabled to fund various industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. At the onset of the Arab Spring protests and eruption of Syrian revolution in 2011, Syria's economic situation was considered dire, with rising inflation, high unemployment rates, corruption and the socio-political atmosphere was characterized by heavy repression. These were a direct consequence of economic liberalization of 2000s; which skyrocketed socio-economic inequalities, increased corruption and cronyism of party oligarchs; thereby drastically alienating the middle and working classes. New monopolies in agrarian sector acquired by pro-government oligarchs and government's mismanagement of the droughts of 2006-11 worsened the living conditions of the peasants, causing widespread disenchantment and exacerbation of rural-urban divisions.
Although official figures put the unemployment rate at 8.1 percent in 2009, Syrian economists estimate it at 24.4 percent. In 2010, the overall poverty rate was 34.3%, while the poverty rate in rural areas was about 62%. Poverty declined between 1997 and 2004 but began to rise in the second half of the 2000s. According to the World Bank, over 20% of Syrians were living in poverty before 2011. The poverty rate had been steadily increasing since the early 2000s due to rising food prices, an influx of refugees, and a decrease in private sector employment. The poorest region in Syria prior to 2011 was the northeast region, particularly the governorate of Raqqa. This region was characterized by low levels of development, poverty and a lack of economic opportunities.
Between 2007 and 2010, Syria experienced its worst drought on instrumental record, made more likely by climate change. It has been proposed that the drought caused the collapse of agriculture in Syria and contributed to increased migration and contributed to the escalation of violence in 2011, although more recent analyses in Political Geography and Nature have challenged this narrative.
Ba'athist Syria under the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad has been widely described as the most "ruthless police state" in the Arab World; having enforcing a wide range of restrictions on the free movement of civilians, independent journalists and unauthorized individuals. The police state apparatus was established in the 1970s by Hafez al-Assad who ran a military dictatorship with the Ba'ath party as its civilian cover. At the apex of the system are the Assad family loyalists from various Alawite clans who dominate the armed forces, Mukhabarat and weld heavy influence over the political system; tasked with the objective of pacifying the general populations. Alongside North Korea and Eritrea, Assad regime operates one of the largest censorship mechanisms that regulate the transfer of information. Reporters Without Borders listed Syria as the 6th worst country in its 2010 Press Freedom Index.
After winning the 2007 presidential election in Syria with 99.82% of the declared votes, Bashar al-Assad implemented numerous measures that further intensified political and cultural repression. Numerous journalists were arrested and independent press centres were shut down. Syrian government intensifed its censorship of the Internet; banning access to more than 200 websites, including sites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, etc. Internet centres were allowed to operate only after the prior authorization of Syrian surveillance agencies. In 2007, the Syrian government enacted a law that forced Internet cafes to keep records of all online comments posted by users in chat forums, as well as their browsing habits. Several individuals who used internet cafes were arrested and reports emerged of the existence of specialized prison centres that detained individuals accused of "internet crimes".
In November 2007, Facebook was banned in Syria. In December, Syrian government launched a large-scale domestic crackdown, arresting more than 30 political dissidents and civil society activists who advocated gradual changes within the political system. After 2006, Assad government expanded travel bans against numerous dissidents, intellectuals, authors and artists living in Syria; preventing them and their families from travelling abroad. In September 2010, The Economist newspaper described Syrian government as "the worst offender among Arab states", that engaged in imposing travel bans and restricted free movement of people. More than 400 individuals in Syria were reportedly restricted by Assad regime's travel bans in 2010.