PS 1200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Al-Qaeda, Arab Spring, Syrian Civil War
6 Sep 2016
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Imperial and colonial heritage: syria was under the ottoman empire, then became a french colony, and gained independence in 1946. Question of alawites (an obscure, off-shoot of shia muslims) in politics. They had no power under the ottoman empire. The french gave this minority group some level of power: dynastic succession in a republic. Hafiz al-asad (1970-2000): led a coup to take over syria. Basil al-asad: supposed to take over after his father (hafiz), but died in 1994. People were optimistic because he was different from his father (eye doctor in london) He continued to talk about a new syria o. Ethnically: syria is mostly arab: religiously: syria mostly sunni muslims, historically, syria has been an urban place. People were optimistic about bishar al-asad, but eventually lost hope in him. Armed opposition; communicated with each other through cell phones. Some people in syria still support bishar al-asad. Neither side is strong enough to win.
