Collective Action and Mobilization in Dar'a: An Anatomy of the Onset of Syria's Popular Uprising

Leenders, Reinoud

doi:10.17813/maiq.17.4.gj8km668p18611hj

Cited by 34 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Kandil 2011), forming a successful revolutionary coalition (Austin Holmes 2012). In Yemen, peaceful protest in the capital Sana'a was accompanied by continued resistance from regional tribes and clans , and the Syrian opposition drew on existing social networks that had created a safe space for ideation and recruitment (Leenders 2012).…”

Section: Subnational Conditions For Mobilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflections on the revolutionary wave in 2011

Beck

2014

Theor Soc

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The "Arab Spring" was a surprising event not just because predicting revolutions is a difficult task, but because current theories of revolution are ill equipped to explain revolutionary waves where interactive causal mechanisms at different levels of analysis and interactions between the units of analysis predominate. To account for such dynamics, a multidimensional social science of revolution is required. Accordingly, a meta-framework for revolutionary theory that combines multiple levels of analysis, multiple units of analysis, and their interactions is offered. A structured example of theory building is then given by detailing how the development of world cultural models and practices challenge existing political structures, affect mobilization processes, and make diffusion more likely. A structured example of study design using qualitative comparative analysis of 16 Middle Eastern and North African countries provides support for the interaction of subnational conditions for mobilization, statecentered causes, and transnational factors, including a country's linkage to world society, as one explanation of the Revolutions of 2011. Keywords Revolution. Arab spring. World culture. World society. Arab countries On January 14, 2011, the long time dictator of Tunisia, Ben Ali, fled Tunis after his military chief refused to suppress a month long popular protest against autocratic rule and corruption. Shortly thereafter, Egyptian activists launched the beginning of protests that would lead to the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, protestors occupied central squares in the capitals of Bahrain and Yemen, and Libyan and Syrian demonstrations, which later devolved into civil war, began. By March, nearly the entire Arab World, and even elsewhere, had experienced contention that almost no one seemed to anticipate. The surprising "Arab Spring" or, as I and other scholars (e.g., Goldstone 2011) might prefer it, the "Revolutions of 2011" had arrived. While many scholars of revolution would not be astonished that prediction of these events had failed (see Keddie 1995; Kuran 1995; Kurzman 2004), the New York Times reported that President Obama faulted American intelligence agencies for not expecting the revolutions (Mazzetti 2011), and a Middle East scholar faulted his own discipline

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Section: Subnational Conditions For Mobilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflections on the revolutionary wave in 2011

Beck

2014

Theor Soc

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“…It meant that from the very beginning the boundary between everyday and activist networks was almost non-existent (Shadid, 2011; . In regions where clan structures were important─for instance Dara'─they were at the basis of protests (Leenders, 2012) . Cities that had large universities─such as Aleppo─had their campuses as early centers of activism.…”

Section: Outline Of the Argumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between rebellion and uprising intersecting networks and discursive strategies in rebel controlled Syria

Donker

2018

Social Movement Studies

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In the article I explore how, at the individual level, participation in multiple networks opens up questions regarding the classification of social activism. The central contention thereby is that as mobilization networks increasingly intersect, explicit discursive designations of activism (being 'political' or 'nonpolitical, social') by individual activists becomes more prevalent. I substantiate this argument with an in-depth exploration of the Syrian uprising. I show that as two distinct networks─one that emerged around nonviolent activism, another that emerged around a violent uprising─increasingly intersected, activists began to use specific discursive strategies. On the one side, a strategy emerged that emphasized the nonpolitical nature of mobilization, thereby distancing activism discursively from intersecting networks. On the other side, a strategy emerged of politicizing collective identities, thereby bridging discursively various mobilization networks. The article thereby adds to existing studies on the intersection between network structure and individual activism. The analysis builds on more than a hundred primary sources from various rebel groups and relevant local actors in addition to thirty interviews with relevant players among activist, rebel and public services organizations.

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“…In Dara'a, some children were arrested and tortured after having written anti-regime slogans, similar to those that they had heard in the media, on the walls of their school. 77 On March 13, 2011, residents took to the streets (although the social base of Dara'a had appeared to be close to the regime). Similarly, concerning the collective deliberations among the Syrian challengers, Adam Backzo and his co-authors highlighted the 'circular relationship between the constant evaluation of the contexts of action, the emotional intensity, and the definition of a collective good.'…”

Section: The Intertwining Of Mechanisms Favoring the Spread Of Mobilimentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Structure and Contingency: Toward an Interactionist and Sequential Approach to the 2011 Uprisings

Bennani-Chraïbi

2017

Middle East Critique

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Taking as its starting point the mental earthquake produced by the 2011 uprisings, this article tackles the epistemological questions of causality and contingency in an effort to foster dialogue between comparative political regime studies, the sociology of revolutions and social movement literature. Based on a comparative analysis of three 'positive cases' (Egypt, Syria and Tunisia), and a 'negative case' (Morocco), it follows an interactionist and sequential approach to revolutionary situations. Its main objective is to expand the scope of the attempts aimed at reconciling structure and contingency, by focusing on the formation of large coalitions and the spread of mobilization on division or defection from within the repressive apparatus, and on the impact of crisis management by the incumbents. More specifically, the article highlights the fact that uncertainty affects not only the 'actors from below,' but all the actors present: the challengers as much as the incumbents and their international allies, the ordinary citizens as well as the officers and the recruits.

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Collective Action and Mobilization in Dar'a: An Anatomy of the Onset of Syria's Popular Uprising

Cited by 34 publications

References 27 publications

Reflections on the revolutionary wave in 2011

Reflections on the revolutionary wave in 2011

Between rebellion and uprising intersecting networks and discursive strategies in rebel controlled Syria

Beyond Structure and Contingency: Toward an Interactionist and Sequential Approach to the 2011 Uprisings

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