Foreign sponsorship of pro-government militias fighting Syria’s insurgency: Whither proxy wars?

Leenders, Reinoud; Giustozzi, Antonio

doi:10.1080/13629395.2020.1839235

Mediterranean Politics

2020

DOI: 10.1080/13629395.2020.1839235

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Foreign sponsorship of pro-government militias fighting Syria’s insurgency: Whither proxy wars?

Reinoud Leenders¹,

Antonio Giustozzi²

Abstract: If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.

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Cited by 7 publications

References 38 publications

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The Obama administration and civil war in Syria, 2011–2016: US presidential foreign policy making as political risk management

Schulhofer-Wohl

2021

J Transatl Stud

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From 2011 to 2016, the Obama administration's Syria policy appeared to be in constant flux. Prominent accounts portray this as the result of foreign policy making in an arena with no good options, or the use of programs as smokescreens to conceal underlying goals. Both portrayals fit the foreign policy making literature, which views policy as crafted by a president who acts either as guardian of the national interest or as a consummate politician. But the record on Syria does not square with these accounts. The Obama administration neither tried to find solutions to the strategic problems that Syria posed in and of itself, in order to advance the national interest, nor exploited Syria as a political opportunity, to enhance domestic political power. I show, instead, that the trajectory of US Syria policy was consistent with efforts to minimize the risk that the crisis posed to President Obama's central foreign policy objectives and his domestic political capital and legacy. The Obama administration's Syria policy resulted from a distinct logic of political risk management. KeywordsUS presidential foreign policy making • Syria • Civil war • Obama administration • Political risk management • The US presidency

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The Obama administration and civil war in Syria, 2011–2016: US presidential foreign policy making as political risk management

Schulhofer-Wohl

2021

J Transatl Stud

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Whose proxy war? The competition among Iranian foreign policy elites in Iraq

Hansen

Henningsen

2022

Small Wars & Insurgencies

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The international sources of prejudice against Shi‘a in the Middle East and North Africa: Original survey evidence from Morocco

Buehler

Schulhofer-Wohl

2021

Mediterranean Politics

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The increasing sectarianization of the international relations of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a defining feature of the region's contemporary politics. Iran has sought to increase its influence among Shi'i populations of foreign countries, while Saudi Arabia and other Sunni regimes have moved to curtail it. In heterogeneous and polarized MENA societies, like Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, where the Shi'a constitute a sizable proportion of the population and compete for political power, it is natural to presume that sectarianization likely increases tension and prejudice against the Shi'a. Yet, little is known about homogenous MENA societies, where the Shi'a exist as an infinitesimal, uninfluential minority that does not seek political power. This topic is examined using an original, nationally-representative survey of 2,000 respondents in Morocco. We find that about 59 per cent of individuals express interpersonal prejudice against Moroccan Shi'a, expressing discomfort at the prospect of having a Shi'i neighbour. Such prejudice is counter-intuitive, given that Moroccan Shi'a constitute a miniscule minority -less than .1 per cent of the population. We investigate three hypotheses concerning the sources of anti-Shi'i prejudice, which locate them in social marginalization, religious beliefs and practices, and views about regional politics. The first two hypotheses are drawn from the existing literature, whereas the third is our unique theoretical contribution. Our results, which find support for the connection between individuals' views about regional politics and anti-Shi'i prejudice, advance scholarly understanding of religious diversity in the MENA, showing how international developments can trickle down into interpersonal relations to hinder the acceptance and tolerance of sectarian minorities.

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Foreign sponsorship of pro-government militias fighting Syria’s insurgency: Whither proxy wars?

Cited by 7 publications

References 38 publications

The Obama administration and civil war in Syria, 2011–2016: US presidential foreign policy making as political risk management

The Obama administration and civil war in Syria, 2011–2016: US presidential foreign policy making as political risk management

Whose proxy war? The competition among Iranian foreign policy elites in Iraq

The international sources of prejudice against Shi‘a in the Middle East and North Africa: Original survey evidence from Morocco

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