Journal of International Studies

Left with a tattered economy after nearly three years of war, an effective economic recovery plan should be a cornerstone of Syria’s reconciliation. The Syrian conflict is destroying the economy and creating a long term economic crisis for Syria that will make a lasting peace in the future even more difficult. With the ongoing fighting, the economy’s downward trend persists and experts expect Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to decrease by a further 13.9 percent by year-end (it is already  down 14.4 percent in 2012 ). Furthermore, de-industrialization, debt, and geographic division worsen the outlook of Syria’s economy beyond the current conflict. Addressing the country’s economic crisis and presenting viable measures for an economic recovery should go hand in hand with the political reconciliation process. The country’s main economic drivers were hit particularly hard. Among those, Syria’s oil sector is at a standstill. The energy infrastructure has been severely damaged, wel...

"The balances of power according to a bipolar system has ended,"  said Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs H. E. Ahmet Davutoğlu  at a Brookings event on Monday, "but still we are looking for new axes and new balances" which need to be "adjusted, especially in the UN system." In this statesman's forum address, hosted by the  Center on the United States and Europe , Foreign Minister Davutoğlu focused on how Turkey's foreign policy is evolving to meet challenges in the region and globally. He began with the UN and the humanitarian crisis in Syria: The international system, unfortunately, in charge of—the UN especially—in charge of keeping peace and stability in international order, is not providing quick answers to the questions and crisis which are the threats to the international system. He detailed the crisis: 130,000 people killed, 7 million displaced, 2 million refugees (700,000 of them in Turkey), chemical weapons used, and millions...

SUMMARY Like the Iraq war and, to a lesser extent, Lebanon’s 2006 war, Syria’s internecine conflict has enabled the Gulf’s ruling families, media commentators, clerics, parliamentarians, and activists to invoke and amplify Sunni-Shia identities, often for goals that are rooted in local power politics.   By-products of the mounting sectarian tension include the fraying of reform cooperation among sects and regions, and pressure on the Gulf’s formal political institutions.   Traditional and social media have served to amplify the most polarizing voices as well as provide reform activists new means for cross-sectarian communication that circumvent governmental efforts to control or block such activities. BACKGROUND The Gulf Arab states have been major players in Syria’s war and, in turn, the war’s effects have rippled across the domestic landscapes of the Gulf in ways that are often unseen but nonetheless significant. Chief among these has been a rise in...

In this Essay, Professor Matthew Waxman argues that debates about constitutional war powers neglect the critical role of  threats  of war or force in American foreign policy. The recent Syria case highlights the President’s vast legal power to threaten military force as well as the political constraints imposed by Congress on such threats. Incorporating threats into an understanding of constitutional powers over war and peace upends traditional arguments about presidential flexibility and congressional checks — arguments that have failed to keep pace with changes in American grand strategy.

Last month, to everyone’s surprise, all the deadlines set by the deal on Syria’s chemical weapons were met by the parties concerned. This was a considerable achievement, and no easy feat. But it was just the beginning. Implementing the deal won’t be easy—in fact, the odds are stacked against it. The timeframe is sharply compressed, the environment hostile and the partnership dubious. Keeping to the timetable is essential to the success of the initiative, but it will get harder as the operation progresses. Less than two weeks after the UN Security Council voted on a resolution to rid Syria of its chemical weapons, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) began implementing the first phase of the plan. On October 6, inspectors confirmed that “missile warheads, aerial bombs, along with mobile and static mixing and filling units, were dealt with” and that work would resume the following day. This was a good start, but it wasn’t the only good news. Despite al...

After two-and-a-half years of steadily metastasizing violence in Syria, the harsh reality is that the country isn't going to become a stable, unified state again in the foreseeable future, let alone a remotely democratic one. It may be time to start thinking about alternatives. Syria has already fragmented into increasingly well-defined enclaves. A multiplicity of Sunni Arab rebels control large swaths of the north and east, while the regime is dominant in the capital and major cities, the largely non-Sunni coastal provinces, and a corridor connecting them.  Kurds control small border areas in the far northeast. The Druze, heavily concentrated in southwest Syria, have formed militias to fend off rebel incursions, while tending otherwise toward  neutrality . Although the rebels are likely to eventually bring down the minoritarian regime of President Bashar Assad, as Michael O'Hanlon helpfully  analogizes , the fall of Damascus will "no more end the war in Syria t...