case study of Syria

Clearly one of the biggest humanitarian disasters in recent memory, the war in Syria is happening right now. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people have died in this war is proof of the destructive effects it has had. Families, particularly women and children, must be battling to survive in Syria, while others are fleeing to neighboring nations as refugees. The residents of Syria have gone to the extent of finding their way to Europe, where they are seeking protection, since the repercussions of the conflict have been overpowering and living in the neighboring countries has even become more tough. The Syrian Civil War developed out of the people’s dissatisfaction and frustration with president Bashar al-Assad rule that subsequently made the crisis to heighten to an armed conflict after demonstrations calling for his removal were fiercely repressed (Haran). The war, which among many other reasons started as a result of an uprising against the country’s president, has had very catastrophic effects such as; shattering the lives of many Syrians, destroying cities, giving rise to millions of Syrians who now live as refugees and deterring diplomatic efforts to end the war. This paper hence provides a scope of the causes and effects of the war, efforts that have been directed to the county to stop the fighting and consequently measures that ought to be taken to help in ending the war.

Causes of the war

Dictatorial rule and political repression: Massive dissatisfaction with the autocratic regime and the long ruling supremacy of the Assad family that Syria has witnessed since the 1970s greatly contributed to the rise of the war (Erlich). The ascension into power of President Bashar Assad after his father’s reign of 29 years sunk the great hopes that the people of Syrian had for reform and reconstruction in the country. This is all because even at this time, power remained concentrated to one political family, the Asaad, leaving the citizens disenfranchised. Among many other individual prejudices, civil society politicking and media freedom were rigorously reduced, eventually shattering the hopes of political reforms and liberty in the country and as a result, people thought that such a dictatorial and rigid regime would be eliminated through an uprising. This was however not the case as the revolution slowly escalated into a massive civil war, the now Syrian war.

Frequent terrorist attacks: with the numerous and frequent new treaties made and broken in Syria, terrorist groups took advantage of the instabilities prevalent in the country. This as well took over the country to a further state of instability and havoc and eventually stirring the start of a war.

Minority rule: Syria is a country that is majorly made up of the Sunni people (Dark). However, the top most government and security positions in the country are held by the minority Alawite group. Severe atrocities and injustices were reported to have been committed against the Sunni and this led to them feeling that so much power had been left in the hands of the Alawite people (Mousavian). This ultimately added to the prevailing tension in the country and contributed to the county’s rebellion as well.

Population surge: The fast young population growth in Syria was growing at very alarming rates, posing as a demographic menace. The country was however unable to strike a balance between the fast growing population and the crumpling economy that was characterized by lacks of jobs. This acted as a breeding ground for the war since millions of the young people lacked an honest way of making a living.

Tunisia effect: The collapse of the Tunisian regime in 2010 that received massive airplay across international media houses, inspired and heightened the Syrian war as the Syrian citizens became confident that they would also lead their own revolt to challenge the authoritarian regime and become successful as well. However, this was not the case as the revolts led to the war.

Corruption: Corruption had become massive in the country and those that were close to the Assad family took advantage of the rampant corruption to expand and enlarge their corrupt business empires. In this case, the middle and low class in the country were deprived of their income and making a living for them became a daunting task. This situation evidently impelled powerful protests against the state from the citizens, giving rising to the war.

Drought: During this period, Syria was experiencing one of its worst droughts to have ever been experienced in the country. Crops and animals failed and died leading to huge losses. This also led to many of the families in Syria moving and drifting to the urban slums in Damascus (Erlich). This resulted to a huge strain on the scarce resources available and with basic items becoming almost unobtainable, social havoc and discontents logically followed.

Effects of the war

Thousands of hundreds of deaths and millions of casualties: According to the Syrian Centre for Policy Research (SCPR), up to 1.8 million Syrians have been injured and an estimate of around 470,000 people killed since the civil war started. These are apparently very huge numbers of lives lost and injured as a result of the war that should prompt quick actions to end the war.

Internal displacements and increase in the number of refugees: 6 million people have been reported to be internally displaced in Syria as a result of the war (SCPR). This has also led to nearly four million seeking refuge elsewhere and becoming refugees in other countries, with nearly 2.7 million people becoming refugees in Turkey alone (Berti).

Lack of access to basic needs: A whole young generation has been exposed to the revulsions of a horrific war and subsequently deprived of access to very elementary and basic needs such as education and healthcare.

Children recruitment in the military: An increasing number of children have been recruited and are actively engaged in the military where they are also taught how to fight using dangerous firearms. This is utterly disturbing since while they are in the battle field, these children are denied so many rights such as the rights to education. A young generation is also been lost to war.

The Syrian state is falling apart: Syria‘s economy is evidently crumbling and crushing down due to the unending war. This, for example, can be taken from the point of view where children are no longer attending schools, hence giving rise to the illiteracy rates in the country. In the near future, this will have a very dramatic effect in the country’s future development and the economy as a whole.

With human rights violations at the heart of the Syrian crisis, many nations and organizations, especially the United Nations have strived to call for the speedy end to the crisis. Despite access constricts in Syria due to security reasons, an estimated number of 10 million people have received assistance from the United Nations (Ostrand). However, with nearly 6 years into the crisis in Syria, the country’s humanitarian state of affairs continues to deteriorate, making a devastating impact on the lives of millions of Syrians. A lot more needs to be done.

More international peacekeeping forces should be sent to Syria to stop the crisis and eventually revive the destroyed towns so as to be able to have a place to relocate as many of the refugees as possible. Also, the destiny of Syria and its presidency should be decided by the people of Syria through an election process supervised by the UN to enhance the election’s accountability. Additionally, there is an essential need for the establishment of a post-war reconstruction scheme that should be able to cultivate and sustain peace during the country’s restoration period with massive economic support (Mousavian). Importantly, to prevent some of the refugee centers in Jordan and Turkey from becoming an intimidation to the peace and security around the region, these refugee centers should be destroyed (Mousavian)

In conclusion, with the crisis in Syria approaching its sixth year, prompt actions and strategies to end the war need to be put in place. The war has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and made them refugees, denied them very basic and elementary needs as well as shattered down cities and towns, subsequently crumbling down the economy of a country that once took pride in very fast economic growth and development . International humanitarian organizations and power nations such a s USA should start to seek changes that will see to it that peace in Syria is restored because the effects , as discussed are very damaging ,both to the country and the globe.

Works Cited

Berti, Benedetta. “The Syrian Refugee Crisis: Regional and Human Security Implications.” Strategic Assessment Journal (2015): 41-53.

Erlich, Reese. Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect. Amherst: Prometheus Books , 2016.

Haran, Vp. “Roots of the Syrian Crisis.” Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (2016): 1-20.

Dark, Edward. “How to solve the Syrian crisis .” 13 11 2014. The Guardian. 30 04 2017 .

Mousavian, Seyed Hossein. “How to Resolve the Syrian Crisis and Alleviate the ISIS Threat.” n.d. Huffington Post. 30 04 2017 .

Ostrand, Nicole. “The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.” Journal on Migration and Human Security (2015): 255-279.

SCPR. “Alienation and Violence Report 2015.” 30 03 2015. Syrian Center for Policy Research. 30 04 2017.