week 3: civil war; thucydides, philips.

Civil War

Civil War

A violent conflict that occurs within a state involving government forces and organized armed rebel groups, distinguishing it from interstate war and one-sided state repression.

Organized Armed Rebel Groups

Groups seeking control of the central government or aiming to control territory and establish a separate state, a key characteristic of civil wars.

Weak and Poor States

Political science researchers suggest that civil wars often occur in states with weak governance and widespread poverty, leading to challenges in maintaining law and order.

Thucydides

A historian who documented the civil war in Corcyra, emphasizing the intense violence and societal breakdown that can occur during such conflicts.

Transnational Civil War

The Syrian Civil War is described as a transnational civil war due to the involvement of foreign states and non-state actors, shaping the conflict beyond domestic boundaries.

Grievances

Factors such as

1. dissatisfaction

2. authoritarian governance

3. economic mismanagement

   can drive civil wars, as seen in the case of Syria with decades of grievances against the government.

Foreign Actors

Various foreign actors intervene in civil wars for strategic reasons, such as

1. maintaining geopolitical influence

2. securing borders

3. supporting allies

   all this influencing the dynamics of the conflict.

two sides to the peloponesian war

1. The commons: who ruled the city at the time. Democrats. Pro athens

   1. Wanted polocymaking power ot be in teh hands of the citizens

2. The oligarchs: more authoritarian. Pro sparta

   1. Wanted policymakinng power ot be in the hands of smaller group elites. Deciding funding, taxes, healthcare, etc. more dictatorial.

how did the corcyrean war unfold?

First, the corinthians decided ot release a number of prisoners they had captured from corcyra on the condition they return to their city and encourage it to ally w sparta.

Second, despite efforts of the prisoners hte corcyraen leadership stayed allied w athens

Third, after rejection, the conspiraotrs charged the peithias-pro athenian senator- with seeking to enslave the city

Fourth, violence ensued between the pro athenian commons and pro spartan oligarchs. The commons enlisted the corcy slaves to fight w them while the oligcarchs hired mercenaries

4 thucy points about civil war

1. civil wars can be violent affairs

2. civil wars can lead to the impending of social order

3. civil wars can spread from state to state

4. civil wars can involve foreign actors, especially during times of interstate war.

the syrian civil war recap

• Started march 2011. Tteens protested calling for the fall of syrian gov

• They were detained and tortttued sparking protests all over the country

• The govt responded w force, firing at unarmed protesters and mass arrests, torture, adn extrajudicial killings. 

• Mid 2011, armed rebel groups formed. Included the free syria army, kurdish ppls prottection units and a number of groups affiliated w al queda and the islamic state. 

• The past 12 yrs we’ve seen tons of violence between syrian govt and other groups

core argument of the syrian civil war

• contrary to a lot fo widely held views that its a domestic affair, its actually best understood as a transnational civil war. International proxy war. 

  • All the rebel groups being supported by foreign actors makes it a non-domestic affair. Everyone is funding and supporting different sides as means of indirectly fighting each other.

syrian reading core 3 points

1. The Syrian civil war occurred at a time characterized by change and the struggle for power in the middle east. 

2. Syria's geography facilitated international involvement in its domestic politics

3. The foreign actors who got involved cause the conflict to be crazy violent

1. happening at a time of change

1. This was spurred by a decline in US power resulting in increased assertiveness of iran, saudi, turkey and qatar,etc

   1. Americans started to back off from the region. Less military presence. This meant that the other regional powers sought to do something “the big scary americans are gone so now we can have more influence on our neighbours around us”. 

2. syria’s geography

• Those affiliated w al qaeda and isis could easily travel across poorly defended national border to get territory

• From turkey, kurdish militant groups looking to secure territory of their own could travel to syria and support other kurds there

• Lebanon, weapons and personnel could flow to support syrian govt. 

• Syria was geographically accessible for so many actors that could use the civil war to their advantage

3. foreign actors

•  Calls for regime change by the US incentivized pro asaad govts in iran and russia to do more to protect their ally

• Calls for regime change also incentivized anti asaad rebel groups and their backers in saudi, turkey and qatar, to take more assertive action in hopes that military victories would attract more us troops. “If we can be successful and claim territory, america will help us! They’ll help the more assertive power to rlly overthrow the govt.”

greed and greivances causes with syria

• More greivannces: in 2000, al assa came to power after his dad died ad many were hopeful that he would be progressive. Spoiler alert, he was not. 

  • Engaged in more torture, poltiical imporisonment, and extrajudicial killing. More and more repressive as time goes on. By 2011, it was the lowest of the low in the human rights scale. 

  • Govts gross mismanagement of the economy, especially of the agricultural sector, led to widespread rural unemployment and food insecurity  

why do foreign actors care?

1. Maintain a friendly land bridge linking iran ot the mediterranean sea (via iraq and syria) to let them move thru their territory and access global markets

2. Establish  presence on israel's northern border to provide a staging ground for either offensive or defensive military actions.