Humanitarianism, State Sovereignty, and Authoritarian Regime Maintenance in the Syrian War

Leenders, Reinoud; Mansour, Kholoud

doi:10.1002/polq.12773

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There are similar debates in Myanmar, where agencies are grappling with the tightening restrictions the military junta has imposed (Harvey et al 2023b). The Syrian regime's use of bureaucratic restrictions and operational interference, grounded in its assertion of state sovereignty, mirrors tactics used in Sudan (Leenders and Mansour 2018). 115 The literature suggests a number of ways that donors can help operational agencies navigate these dilemmas and improve the conflict sensitivity of their responses.…”

Section: Box 52: Lessons From Other Conflict-affected Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of studies argue that new strategies, frameworks, and tools are needed to help humanitarian actors deal with the manipulation and appropriation of aid by authoritarian states (Leenders and Mansour 2018;Haid 2019). Beals (2023) argues that in situations where the stateor de facto statedenies aid agencies access to populations in need, this is likely to require creative alternatives to the UN-dominated and state-centric model of humanitarian action.…”

Section: Take a Balanced Approach To Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effective Social Protection in Conflict: Findings from Sudan

Birch,

Carter,

Satti

2024

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explores the conflict sensitivity of social protection in Sudan in its various forms since the present war started in April 2023, from locally led mutual aid to the social assistance programming of international agencies. It considers how these various interventions are both responding to, and being changed by, the conflict and associated humanitarian crisis, as well as how they interrelate. Provision of social assistance leans heavily on humanitarian actors for now, and lessons from their practice may inform and enrich a future state-led social protection system when this is rebuilt. Conflict sensitivity principles can be introduced through a number of entry points, then woven through the project cycle and the social protection delivery chain; they include systems of analysis, monitoring, and accountability to affected people, as well as capacity for adaptive management. Donors can reinforce this through their partnership, financing, and risk management strategies. Above all, external actors should recognise the fundamental importance of community-led crisis response and deepen their understanding of how it functions, and of the concerns and priorities of those involved.

show abstract

Section: Box 52: Lessons From Other Conflict-affected Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Take a Balanced Approach To Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effective Social Protection in Conflict: Findings from Sudan

Birch,

Carter,

Satti

2024

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Like in Habermasian thought, those are believed to act as non-governmental advocates for and multipliers of citizen interests vis-à-vis state institutions. Yet, since those need to be approved by the central government (Berdal & Zaum 2012: 55;Human Rights Watch 2019;Leenders & Mansour 2018;Zaum 2012: 123, 128), they are, in Syria and elsewhere, somewhat linked to and/or supportive of respective politicaleconomic elites. Hence, more productive ways of engaging with 'localized elite bargains' need to be found.…”

Section: On Peace and Localized (Urban) Elite Bargainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forging Peace in Damascus: On International Aid, Localized Elite Bargaining, and Insider Mediators

Kania

2021

Journal of Illicit Economies and Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Scholarship identified the present and future of war as increasingly characterized by urbanization and political-economic actors that Western international assistance defines as 'illicit', 'illiberal' or 'criminal'. This article asks how Western international assistance could and should shape war-topeace transitions for contributing to the emergence of lasting non-violent 'peaces'. It combines scholarly insights from 'pragmatic peacebuilding' scholarship and practice with interviews and grey literature on masterplanning projects in two neighborhoods in Damascus, Syria, that are prepared for 'reconstruction' or 'redevelopment', namely Qaboun and Basateen al-Razi. Thereby, it, on the one hand, challenges current approaches that, as in the case of Syria, presume that macropolitical pressure, diplomacy, and sanctions would forge an enduring outcome. It argues that 'peace' must be recognized as an order that is particular to a given time, space, and their inherent relations of political-economic actors (political settlements) and is, thus, changeable and expandable to including more people's interests and subject matters. On the other hand, it promotes an elongation and bridging of the emerging consensuses across the reviewed literatures that supporting local actors who are recognized and respected as mediators by all relevant conflict parties provide for a fruitful avenue to expanding the inclusivity of peaces and their underlying political settlements. This adds to the repertoire of newly emerging sustainable peacebuilding methods and signposts towards further studies of 'localized elite bargaining'.

show abstract

“…On the fight with terrorism, the difference lay in the fact that Russia had prepared in advance a legal basis for its actions, having received an invitation from the official authorities of the Syrian state and signed the corresponding agreement. One may argue that Russia used a "respect to sovereignty" narrative and allied with "authoritarian" identities (Heydemann 2013;Leenders and Mansour 2018).…”

Section: Ukraine and Syria As A Challengementioning

confidence: 99%

Russia and Japan in 2012–2020: The Deadlock of Collective Identities

Ignat¹

2021

AJP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Territorial disputes are complicated by the long-term vicious cycle of "rival" identities constructed by continuous interactions. The purpose of this study is to analyze how Japan's commitments to certain types of collective identities affect bilateral relations with Russia, using two case studies that analyze how Russian political elites perceive Japan's position on sensitive issues of international politics. By doing so, the study argues that Japan's commitments to "Western" collective discourses in the international arena over the past decade have largely undermined relations with Russia, reducing the likelihood of significant progress on critical issues.

show abstract

Humanitarianism, State Sovereignty, and Authoritarian Regime Maintenance in the Syrian War

Cited by 20 publications

References 5 publications

Effective Social Protection in Conflict: Findings from Sudan

Effective Social Protection in Conflict: Findings from Sudan

Forging Peace in Damascus: On International Aid, Localized Elite Bargaining, and Insider Mediators

Russia and Japan in 2012–2020: The Deadlock of Collective Identities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About