Journal articles on the topic 'Syria – Economic history'
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Akhmedov, V. M. "SYRIAN CRISIS: HISTORY AND CURRENT POLITICS." Journal of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, no. 3 (13) (2020): 265–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.31696/2618-7302-2020-3-265-272.
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The article studies main developments, implications and results of the 10 year Syrian crisis. The author pays special attention to the historical preconditions that caused those events in Syria, focusing on actual political, social, economic, ethnic, ideological, regional, and international dimensions of the Syrian crisis based on historical background. The author tries to make some forecasts about further development of the current situation in Syria in view of abilities to peacefully resolve the conflict by political instruments rather than military options. The publication tends to study new tendencies in the Syrian crisis development. The author argues that today the Syrian conflict is developing in a different paradigm that can be tentatively designated as the “post-terrorist” stage in the Syrian uprising. Main attention is paid to Russia’s politics in Syria and its ability to rebuild the main institutions of the Syrian state. Political steps and tendencies of major regional and international players in the Syrian crisis are analysed. In this regard the author supposes and demonstrates in this article that much depends on how Russia, Turkey, Iran, the United States and Israel change the previous agreements on the security system in Syria. The author believes that despite all the complexity of this crisis, peace in Syria is quite possible. A lot depends on political will and the readiness for mutual compromises between key internal and external actors in the Syrian crisis.
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Saad Aldin, Ammar. "History and Development of the National Library of Syria." Bibliotekovedenie [Russian Journal of Library Science] 69, no. 2 (July 20, 2020): 173–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.25281/0869-608x-2020-69-2-173-181.
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In the context of the decreasing intensity of the armed conflict, but still ongoing crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria), preservation of the historical and cultural monuments, including manuscript ones, is important for the country and its future. Al-Assad National Library of Syria has a leading role in the preservation of the documentary heritage of the country. The history of the emergence and development of the National Library of Syria has a number of political, cultural and social features. At present, Russian universities are updating the Arabic country studies. The author notes that the number of publications on the history and development of librarianship in Syria in the Russian professional press is insufficient, thus confirming the relevance of the present study. The fact that the National Library has survived despite the war is of great value to the Syrian people, the Arab world and the UNESCO World Heritage. The article considers the emergence, formation and development of the Al-Assad National Library of Syria. The author shows the revival of the first National library in the territory of Syria (Az-Zahiriya Library) during the Ottoman occupation and describes the historical and political situation that accompanied its appearance. The article highlights the main sources of the formation of Az-Zahiriya Library collections in the late nineteenth century. The author provides analytical information on the growth dynamics of its collections and considers the significant role of Az-Zahiriya National Library during the French mandate in Syria and after gaining independence. In the 1970s, strengthening processes of progressive socio-economic and cultural transformations led to the emergence of Al-Assad National Library, which became the new National library of Syria. The article analyses the main stages of creation of Al-Assad National Library and presents its main characteristics and challenges at present.
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Shibley, Gregory J. "Negotiating Urban Environment and Economy in New York’s Little Syria, 1880-1946." Journal of Urban History 44, no. 6 (December 24, 2015): 1081–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0096144215607222.
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Syrian immigrants populated New York’s Lower Manhattan, creating a neighborhood known as Little Syria. Sources employ “mother colony” and other evocative terms to highlight the unique importance of New York’s Arabic-speaking enclave to Syrian immigrant settlements throughout the United States. Yet no scholarly monograph on Little Syria, covering the entire period of its existence, from approximately 1880 to 1946, has been published. This article argues that early Syrian immigrants used their distinctive ethnicity to economic advantage within this urban enclave but exited its unhealthy environment as soon as they could. Like others, Syrians found unparalleled opportunities for mobility and financial success in New York. Manifesting an Arabic culture and an affinity for the middle class, they left Little Syria behind, and made no concerted attempt to preserve the old neighborhood. They embraced ethnicity as an economic virtue but distanced themselves from ethnicity as an environmental burden.
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Aydin, Ulviyye. "The Syrian Refugee Crisis: New Negotiation Chapter In European Union-Turkey Relations." Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 19, no. 2 (July 2016): 102–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.5782/2223-2621.2016.19.2.102.
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Syria is one of the countries where a revolution wave named Arab Spring uprose in early 2011. The most radical discourse from Arab Spring into the still ongoing civil wars took place in Syria as early as the second half of 2011. At the beginning it was a civil protest against Assad’s government. Nobody could not estimate the future developments in Syria. The cost of the war in Syria increases every day. More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from Islamic State. Mixed featured developments and longer resistance of Assad’s regime than estimated escalated tension in Syria in last four and half years. As a result, many countries in the Middle East, such as Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, also Turkey, Serbia, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Austria, Netherlands, Bulgaria are the sides that should pay a cost of the Syrian war. These states spend a remarkable budget for the Syrian refugees. Economic expenditure is just one dimension of Syrian refugee crisis. Movement of Syrian refugees to the European countries passing Turkish borders is one of the biggest migration crisis of the modern world history. Considering multifaced impacts of the migration, the aim of this paper is to analyze the Syrian refugee crisis as a new negotiation headline between the Europan Union and Turkey.
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Gifford, Lindsay A. "Syria: The Change That Never Came." Current History 108, no. 722 (December 1, 2009): 417–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/curh.2009.108.722.417.
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Kamla, Rania, Sonja Gallhofer, and Jim Haslam. "Understanding Syrian accountants' perceptions of, and attitudes towards, social accounting." Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 25, no. 7 (September 14, 2012): 1170–205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513571211263239.
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PurposeThis paper adds to a focus of the social accounting literature (on perceptions and attitudes to social accounting) by seeking to offer insights into Syrian accountants' attitudes towards, and perceptions of, social accounting in Syria in the first decade of the twenty‐first century, with particular attention to its role, future development and implementation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper takes the form of an analysis of interviews of Syrian accountants; contextual analysis (and an appreciation of the prior literature).FindingsSyrian accountants' perceptions are shaped by developments in Syria's socio‐political and economic context, encompassing imperialism/colonialism, globalisation and cultural specificities, including Islam. Interviewees perceived a significant role for a social accounting – that would parallel the Western form of social accounting – in enhancing well‐being in the dynamic context. At the same time, they were reluctant to see the development and implementation of this accounting in Syria as an urgent issue, so that this social accounting might be left initially at least with an even more marginal part to play than in the West. The study suggests that a combination of forces – global developments, Western imperialism and Syria's colonial history – have had a substantively repressive rather than progressive impact on the development of social accounting in Syria vis‐à‐vis its more positive potential.Research limitations/implicationsAll limitations of interview research apply. This study focuses on Syria in a context when economic transition was a major issue. Further studies of economies in transition would be of interest.Practical implicationsAn awareness of how the local and the global interact in debates over social accounting can provide insights for policy makers concerned with accounting regulation.Originality/valueThe focus on Syria, a non‐Western country, enriches the social accounting literature, which focuses mainly on Western developments.
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Rabat, Lujain. "The historical development of decentralisation in Syria." Vostok. Afro-aziatskie obshchestva: istoriia i sovremennost, no. 6 (2022): 101. http://dx.doi.org/10.31857/s086919080020201-8.
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This article presents a comparative historical analysis of the development of decentralization in Syria during three historical stages: under the Ottoman empire, during the French mandate, and in the period after the country became independent. The purpose of this research is to reveal patterns that explain the current state of decentralization in Syria today. Primary sources such as legislative decrees and constitutions, as well as secondary scientific and analytical sources are used in this work to analyse the development of decentralization in Syria. This article identifies different aspects, in which the local administration system today has been influenced by previous laws and practices developed by previous governments, namely the country’s administrative-territorial division, the concentration of power at the local level with centrally appointed persons, and the perception of decentralization as a threat to security. Despite many constitutions and legislations throughout Syria’s history mentioning decentralization and empowering local administrative units, governance remains a highly centralized process, giving elected local administrative units limited powers and responsibilities. The securitization of administrative processes as well as prioritizing economic, political, military, and other elite interests throughout Syria’s history have been obstacles to decentralising powers and responsibilities to local administration bodies. However, due to the development of events on the ground in Syria since the beginning of the crisis in 2011, different views on the best form of decentralization for the country’s future, and the role it can play at this important stage of the country's history began to appear in the Syrian society.
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Medvedko, Sergei Leonidovich. "The situation of Syrian Christians in the context of the Arab Spring events." RUDN Journal of World History 13, no. 4 (December 15, 2021): 374–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.22363/2312-8127-2021-13-4-374-383.
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The article is based on the information published in foreign and Russian sources and media, as well as on the basis of the authors own research and interviews carried out in Syria. The aim of the work is to study the situation of Syrian Christians after the events of the Arab Spring-2011. This is the scientific novelty of the topic. The article is devoted to the problems that not only touched, but most dramatically affected the life of Christians in Syria, who traditionally presented at least 12% of its population (and much more in the past). They are representatives of the most indigenous religion in the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR). The work also traces the role of Christians in the history and socio-political life of Syria, analyzes their current situation, evaluates the events of recent years and draws appropriate conclusions. In particular, the author believes that the Arab Spring led not only to huge human and economic losses, but also to serious ethno-confessional structural changes in the society of the SAR. With the possible disappearance of this native part of the Syrian population, who lived here and represented almost all the inhabitants of that region before the Islam, the republic may lose not only 12 percent of the most educated and active part of its population, but also its tourist attractiveness in the eyes of the whole world. Although Syria has always been considered the cradle of Christianity it could lose its reputation as one of the most tolerant countries of the Arab world.
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Genç, Hamdi, and İbrahim Murat Bozkurt. "Ottomans: Unwanted Immigrants in Brazil at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century." Journal of Migration History 7, no. 1 (April 22, 2021): 51–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/23519924-00701002.
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Abstract This article addresses the Ottoman migration to Brazil from current Lebanon and Syria. The article explores reasons for the migration, the Ottoman State’s attitude towards this migration and the measures taken to control it. It also analyses the socio-economic and political relations between the Ottoman State and Brazil, and the socio-economic situation of the Lebanese and Syrians who migrated to Brazil as well as the attitude of the Brazilian government. In addition, the article highlights the attitude of the Brazilian government to Lebanese and Syrian migrants. The article is mostly based on Ottoman archives accessed through the State Archives Department of the Turkish Presidency. These documents give a distinctive character to the article compared with other studies in this field, namely that it is one of very few focusing on migration from Lebanon and Syria to Brazil in the Ottoman period that uses archival resources of the country of emigration.
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Humphreys, R. Stephen, and Muhsin D. Yusuf. "Economic Survey of Syria during the Tenth and Eleventh Centries." American Historical Review 92, no. 2 (April 1987): 463. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1866741.
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Zelinskyi, A. "Lebanon and Syria – the “Siamese twins” of the Levant: a Current Situation." Problems of World History, no. 19 (October 27, 2022): 98–113. http://dx.doi.org/10.46869/10.46869/2707-6776-2022-19-6.
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The Syrian Arab and Lebanese Republics are two neighboring states located in the Middle Eastern subregions, traditionally called the Levant. The close neighborhood of both countries led to the preservation of old and the emergence of new common denominators in the socio-economic, socio-political and religious spheres. In modern historiography, there are disagreements regarding the degree of preservation and definition of the nature of today’s relations between the two states. It is about the recognition or non-recognition of the existence of the exceptional character of the modern Syrian-Lebanese relations. At the same time, among researchers who recognize the fact of preserving many common denominators for both countries, the main issue remains the positive or negative interpretation of the mentioned phenomenon.
It should be realized that most of the close ties between Syria and Lebanon, which are not determined by the immediate geographical proximity of both countries, are as the result of external interference in the affairs of the subregion. It is about the arbitrary territorial-administrative division carried out by the Ottoman Empire, the artificial idea of “Greater Syria”, which was popularized by a native of Mecca - Faisal bin Hussein al-Hashimi, and French experiments during the mandated period of the history of both countries. As a result of the above-mentioned interventions, reinforced by the geographical factor, there was an established desire of Syria to incorporate the Lebanese Republic into its structure, supported by a part of the population of Lebanon itself. Even after the end of the period of Syrian occupation of Lebanon (1990-2005) as a result of the Cedar Revolution, the danger of the absorbing the country of cedarsby neighbor state has not disappeared. This is indicated by the presence of a wide range of pro-Syrian politicians in the Lebanese ruling circles and the role played by the Lebanese Shiite militia organization Hezbollah in saving the B. al-Assad regime during the ongoing civil war in Syria.
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Çelikkaya, Mehmet Emin, Ahmet Atıcı, Çigdem EL, and Bülent Akçora. "Innocent Children in the Syrian Civil War." European Journal of Pediatric Surgery 30, no. 02 (November 18, 2019): 215–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-3400282.
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Abstract Introduction Our aim is to present the clinical and surgical characteristics of the children affected by the Syrian civil war. Materials and Methods Medical records were reviewed retrospectively for Syrian war victims between the ages of 0 and 18 who were brought to the emergency department of the Education and Research Hospital between March 2011 and March 2019. Each patient was evaluated with respect to demographic data (gender, age), type of injury, history of operations in Syria, injured organ(s), accompanying traumas and the mortality and trauma score. Results The majority of our study population of 147 patients were male (108/147, 73.46%), and 39 of the total were girls (26.53%). The mean age of the patients was 9 (7.5 ± 4). The mean age of the girls was 8.5 (range: 7 months to 16 years), and the mean age of the boys was 9.2 (4 months to 17 years). Seventeen patients who had abdominal surgery in Syria were operated on again after clinical and radiological observations. A total of 83 patients were operated on in Turkey. For 66 of those patients, the operation in Turkey was their first surgery on their war injuries. Seventeen patients were operated on in Syria but needed surgery again in Turkey. Conclusion War affects not only the battlefield, but also the neighboring countries in many aspects such as medical, social, and economic. Hollow organ injuries are the most common intraabdominal pathologies. Delayed intervention is associated with increase mortality and morbidity.
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Trombetta, Lorenzo. "Le Liban, entre révoltes arabes et conflit syrien: un exercice de flexibilité." Oriente Moderno 94, no. 2 (November 18, 2014): 317–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/22138617-12340061.
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Since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in Spring 2011, the social, economic and political Lebanese landscape – described as one of the most unstable and fragile of the Middle East – has unexpectedly showed a great ability in absorbing the effects of the crisis. The massive influx of Syrian refugees and the prolonged status of war in Syria have indeed exacerbated the pre-existent domestic political and sectarian tensions in various Lebanese regions. But the country appears far from being on the brink of a new nationwide ‘civil war’. This paper intends to discuss the exceptional flexibility of the Lebanese system in the light of its modern and contemporary history and to examine the crucial role played by local actors in the current transition.
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Bianquis, Thierry, and Muhsin D. Yusuf. "Economic Survey of Syria during the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries." Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 30, no. 2 (1987): 229. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3632093.
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AlAsaad, Shaza. "THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF PALMYRA BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR IN SYRIA." Археология Евразийских степей, no. 3 (July 27, 2021): 298–306. http://dx.doi.org/10.24852/2587-6112.2021.3.298.306.
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In the article there is example of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, the article examines the problems of loss and preservation of the world historical, cultural, archaeological and architectural heritage in the context of modern local military confl icts. During the periods of Antiquity and the middle Ages, a complex of monuments, unique in composition and size, was formed here, combining ancient Eastern, Roman, Byzantine and Arab elements. During the ongoing acute armed confl ict in Syria, because of the purposeful actions of religious terrorist-extremist organizations, defi ned by the author as an "international historian of cultural terrorism", hesuffered catastrophic damage. An analysis of the scale of this damage, as well as the effectiveness of the efforts of the Syrian authorities, international organizations and the world community, shows that the preservation and restoration of Palmyra's heritage is possible because of painstaking, complex, joint work of all interested parties. Thus, the example of Palmyra showed the military confl icts in the Middle East, along with the actual destruction of entire states, the death of a huge number of people, the economic crisis, millions of refugees, was an attack on the heritage of ancient civilizations, which caused unprecedented loss of world cultural heritage in modern history. Now the world community faces a long and comprehensive joint effort to determine the damage, restore, and prevent further destruction and looting of the cultural heritage of Palmyra and Syria.
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Payaslian, Simon. "Diasporan Subalternities: The Armenian Community in Syria." Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 16, no. 1-2 (March 2012): 92–132. http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.16.1-2.92.
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This article offers an account of Syria’s substantial Armenian diasporic community, concentrating on how it negotiated its integration without assimilation into the larger Syrian society (itself not homogeneous but long dominated by a single political system). The analysis relies on themes and approaches developed by subaltern studies; ideas drawn from it enable us to delineate the trajectory of the diasporan community. Successfully maintaining its distinct cultural identity as a result of the closed nature of the political system, and further buttressed by the religio-cultural barriers between the Armenian Christian community and the Arab Muslim dominant groups, this community has nevertheless accepted permanent subalternization; it has failed to develop its full potential in cultural creativity and political confidence. Neither the technological nor the economic forces emanating from globalization, despite the liberalization policies pursued under the Asad governments, have proved sufficient to change the closed nature of the Syrian political economy. The permanent peripheralization of the Armenians in Syria has meant that they either dwell voicelessly in the realm of diasporan subalternities or exit. The community has declined, in terms of both numbers and vitality, since the early 1960s. This article proposes a theoretical framework that combines studies of diasporan transformation and Albert Hirschman’s analysis of “voice, exit, and loyalty” in order to develop a more complete picture of the evolution of an exilic community into a diasporic community and, finally, its decline and potential dissolution.
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Gleick, Peter H. "Water, Drought, Climate Change, and Conflict in Syria." Weather, Climate, and Society 6, no. 3 (July 1, 2014): 331–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/wcas-d-13-00059.1.
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Abstract The devastating civil war that began in Syria in March 2011 is the result of complex interrelated factors. The focus of the conflict is regime change, but the triggers include a broad set of religious and sociopolitical factors, the erosion of the economic health of the country, a wave of political reform sweeping over the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Levant region, and challenges associated with climate variability and change and the availability and use of freshwater. As described here, water and climatic conditions have played a direct role in the deterioration of Syria’s economic conditions. There is a long history of conflicts over water in these regions because of the natural water scarcity, the early development of irrigated agriculture, and complex religious and ethnic diversity. In recent years, there has been an increase in incidences of water-related violence around the world at the subnational level attributable to the role that water plays in development disputes and economic activities. Because conflicts are rarely, if ever, attributable to single causes, conflict analysis and concomitant efforts at reducing the risks of conflict must consider a multitude of complex relationships and contributing factors. This paper assesses the complicated connections between water and conflict in Syria, looks more broadly at future climate-related risks for water systems, and offers some water management strategies for reducing those risks.
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Öztan, Ramazan Hakkı. "The Great Depression and the Making of Turkish-Syrian Border, 1921–1939." International Journal of Middle East Studies 52, no. 2 (April 8, 2020): 311–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020743820000021.
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AbstractThis article explores how the Great Depression in 1929 led to the expansion of illicit circuits globally, and examines the ways in which the introduction of anti-smuggling campaigns came to consolidate the border regimes in Turkey and French Syria. The global economic downturn in the late 1920s led states to embrace protectionist measures such as heightened tariffs and import quotas, all designed to protect local industries and maintain a favorable trade balance. The introduction of such measures, however, often resulted in the emergence of highly profitable illicit circuits, including in the borderland between Turkey and Syria. Here, a sturdy coalition of producers, shop owners, smugglers, trackers, and peddlers began to smuggle into Turkey a range of goods from silk textiles to cigarette papers, while funneling out narcotics into Syria. By seeking the global trajectories of such commodity flows, this article examines the impact of these borderland mobilities on the making of Turkey's southern border by exploring the local and bureaucratic responses to a rapidly changing world economic order in the aftermath of the Great Depression.
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Gadelshina, Elvira R. "Economic Sanctions against Russia: Implications for International Business." Business Law Review 37, Issue 3 (June 1, 2016): 102–3. http://dx.doi.org/10.54648/bula2016021.
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Recent history has seen a significant number of occasions when states and non-state actors purported to influence other states’ internal policy and geopolitical strategy by imposing economic sanctions. The most notable examples include the infamous US trade embargo on Cuba (condemned by the UN General Assembly for the 24th consecutive year), the recently lifted UN and partially struck down US sanctions against Iran and the near-total financial and trade embargo against Iraq (lifted by the UN Security Council in 2003 after Saddam Hussein had been forced from power). Comprehensive sanctions programs, which block all trade, are currently administered by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control against Burma (Myanmar), Sudan and Syria.
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Ibold, Nura. "Post-Conflict Syria: From Destruction to Reconstruction – Who's Involved and to Which Extent." Open House International 44, no. 2 (June 1, 2019): 8–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ohi-02-2019-b0002.
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The wave of popular unrest in the Arab world reached Syria in March 2011, and what started as peaceful demonstrations with simple demands of justice and freedom turned into a brutal armed conflict and a full-scale civil war. Over seven years of conflict resulted in the deaths of over half a million Syrians, the forced displacement of millions more, and a huge loss of the country's social and physical structures. What began as another Arab Spring movement against a dictatorial regime has turned into a proxy war that has attracted the interests of the world and regional powers. The paper discusses Syria's political history and investigates the motives for the Syrian uprising and argues that it is related to socio-economic deprivations rather than sectarianism. The work underlines the interests of the countries involved in the Syrian conflict focusing on Russia, USA, Iran, and Turkey, as well as their contribution to the future reconstruction of the country. Over the past few years, the Syrian regime and its allies targeted many cities and destroyed opposition-held neighborhoods. The work considers if this destruction was part of an overall strategy adopted by the al-Assad regime to terrorize those who opposed it and change Syria demographically, examining the new laws issued by the government to transfer public properties into the hands of its loyal businessmen factions, as in the case of the reconstruction project in the city of Homs. Seven years of war exhausted Syria's financial stocks, and the country (and in turn the regime) is suffering the consequences of military spending. But like any other war, destruction is also a great opportunity to generate money through reconstruction and growth. It is a “win-win situation”; the regime will use the fund designated for reviving the country to its own benefit, gaining future profits. Already invested in the conflict, involved countries will be part of the reconstruction process to secure their presence and control in Syria. United Nations agencies like UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) are working closely with the Syrian regime and its governmental representatives. This research examines their involvement and how their ‘humanitarian mission' is being exploited to prop up the al-Assad regime.
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Miles, William F. S. "As the Druze Go, So Goes the Middle East." Current History 120, no. 830 (December 1, 2021): 366–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/curh.2021.120.830.366.
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The Druze, despite being a small minority faith group, have long survived in a challenging region, thanks in part to a doctrine of deference to whatever state they live in. In the past few years, however, the three largest Druze populations—in Israel, Lebanon, and Syria—have each faced some of their most difficult challenges yet, from a downgrading of their citizenship status to economic collapse and civil war. An increasingly active diaspora has emerged as an important advocate for Druze interests worldwide.
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Ahmad, Tarek. "The katochoi of Zeus at Baitokaike (Hoson Sulaiman, Syria)." Journal of Ancient History 6, no. 2 (November 27, 2018): 215–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jah-2018-0001.
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AbstractWhile a well-known term from Greek literature, katochoi possessed a particular religious meaning within the Near East during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Since the first publication of documents relating to this term, it has been a topic of scholarly debate as to the nature of the katochoi themselves. This paper will elaborate upon the role of the katochoi at Baitokaike (modern Hoson Sulaiman in Syria) in order to define better their institution and analyze their involvement in the site’s long-term history within the economic, social, and religious context of the settlement and its sanctuary.
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de Elvira, Laura Ruiz, and Tina Zintl. "THE END OF THE BAʿTHIST SOCIAL CONTRACT IN BASHAR AL-ASAD'S SYRIA: READING SOCIOPOLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS THROUGH CHARITIES AND BROADER BENEVOLENT ACTIVISM." International Journal of Middle East Studies 46, no. 2 (April 10, 2014): 329–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020743814000130.
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AbstractThis article reads Bashar al-Asad's rule through the prism of social activism and, in particular, through the field of charities. The sociopolitical transformations Syria experienced between 2000 and 2010—the shift in state–society relations, the opening of the civic arena, and economic liberalization—are explored through the activities of charitable associations, including their interactions with other Syrian actors, and we argue that they reflect the unraveling of the old social contract. The Syrian leadership outsourced important state welfare functions to charities while also creating nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) under its own control and supporting developmental NGOs loyal to the regime. These NGOs differed from the existing charities in terms of their social base, financial backgrounds, motivations, modes of institutionalization, and public relations strategies, and enabled the authoritarian regime to pursue a new strategy of divide-and-rule politics. At the same time, subcontracting poor-relief measures to charities eroded the regime's political legitimacy and helped sow the seeds of the 2011 uprising.
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Lockman, Zachary. "Railway Workers and Relational History: Arabs and Jews in British-Ruled Palestine." Comparative Studies in Society and History 35, no. 3 (July 1993): 601–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0010417500018600.
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During the period of Ottoman rule over the Arab East, from 1516 until the end of the First World War, the term Palestine (Filastin) denoted a geographic region, part of what the Arabs called al-Sham (historic Syria), rather than a specific Ottoman province or administrative district. By contrast, from 1920 to 1948, Palestine existed as a distinct and unified political (and to a considerable extent economic) entity with well-defined boundaries. Ruled by Britain under a so-called mandate granted by the League of Nations, Palestine in that period encompassed an Arab majority and a Jewish minority.
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Pablo-Romero, María del P., Antonio Sánchez-Braza, and Mohammed Bouznit. "The Different Contribution of Productive Factors to Economic Growth in mena Countries." African and Asian Studies 15, no. 2-3 (November 4, 2016): 127–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15692108-12341360.
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The aim of this study is to analyse the extent to which different productive factors, and the relationships that exist between them, affect the economic growth of productivity in ten Middle Eastern and North African (mena) countries during the period 1990-2010. A translog production function is estimated by using panel data and the contribution of the factors to growth is calculated. The results show a positive effect of the physical and human capital on productivity and high complementarity relationships between them, both factors being essential in determining economic growth. However, the magnitude of their contribution varies substantially between the ten countries considered. Thus, the capitalisation of the economies and the improvement of the human capital seem to be key policy elements of economic growth in these countries. Nevertheless, a considerable part of the economic growth cannot be explained by these factors, particularly in Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.
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Mohsen, Fatema, Batoul Bakkar, Humam Armashi, and Nizar Aldaher. "Crisis within a crisis, COVID-19 knowledge and awareness among the Syrian population: a cross-sectional study." BMJ Open 11, no. 4 (April 2021): e043305. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043305.
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ObjectivesTo gauge specific knowledge around clinical features, transmission pathways and prevention methods, and to identify factors associated with poor knowledge to help facilitate outbreak management in Syria during this rapid global rise of the COVID-19 pandemic.DesignWeb-based cross-sectional survey.SettingThis study was conducted in March 2020, nearly 10 years into the Syrian war crisis. The Arabic-language survey was posted on various social media platforms including WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and Facebook targeting various social groups.ParticipantsA total of 4495 participants completed the survey. Participants with a history of COVID-19 infection, residing outside Syria or who did not fully complete the survey were excluded from the study. The final sample of 3586 participants (completion rate=79.8%) consisted of 2444 (68.2%) females and 1142 (31.8%) males.Primary and secondary outcome measuresFirst, knowledge of COVID-19 in four areas (general knowledge; transmission pathways; signs and symptoms; prevention methods). Second, factors associated with poor knowledge.ResultsOf the 3586 participants, 2444 (68.2%) were female, 1822 (50.8%) were unemployed and 2839 (79.2%) were college educated. The study revealed good awareness regarding COVID-19 (mean 75.6%, SD ±9.4%). Multiple linear regression analysis correlated poor mean knowledge scores with male gender (β=−0.933, p=0.005), secondary school or lower education level (β=−3.782, p<0.001), non-healthcare occupation (β=−3.592, p<0.001), low economic status (β=−0.669, p<0.040) and >5 household members (β=−1.737, p<0.001).ConclusionThis study revealed some potentially troubling knowledge gaps which underscore the need for a vigorous public education campaign in Syria. This campaign must reinforce the public’s awareness, knowledge and vigilance towards precautionary measures against COVID-19, and most importantly aid in controlling the worldwide spread of the disease.
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Lawson, Fred H. "Economic and Social Foundations of Egyptian Expansionism: The Invasion of Syria in 1831." International History Review 10, no. 3 (August 1988): 378–404. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07075332.1988.9640483.
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Buzanakov, Yu V. "The conquest of Antioch by the Persians and the beginning of the geopolitical catastrophe of Byzantium in the East." Belgorod State University Scientific bulletin. Series: History. Political science 46, no. 4 (December 30, 2019): 627–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.18413/2075-4458-2019-46-4-627-633.
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The article discusses the military history of Antioch, one of the regional centers of the Byzantine state from the 4th to 7th centuries. The author analyse the role of the city in the Byzantine-Persian wars. The characteristic of the history of the conquest of the Byzantine East is given. Being the capital of the province of Syria, Antioch was a major economic, political and religious center. In addition, Antioch has a rich military history. From the 4th century until the beginning of the Arab conquests, the Syrian Province was one of the centers of the Byzantine-Persian wars. As a rule, the city, in this war, played the role of a supply and coordination center for troops, but history knows examples when Antioch went on to experience direct enemy attacks. With the beginning of the era of Arab conquest, neither Byzantium nor Persia, exhausted by the war with each other, were unable to withstand the new threat. As a result of this, the Persian power ceased to exist, and Byzantium lost its vast territories in the East, including Antioch. It is worth noting that Antoch did not suffer a single major siege, neither in the period of Late Antiquity nor in the Middle Ages.
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Hopfinger, Hans, and Marc Boeckler. "Step by step to an open economic system: Syria sets course for liberalization." British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 23, no. 2 (November 1996): 183–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13530199608705632.
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Barnett, Michael. "DAVID WALDNER, State Building and Late Development (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1999). Pp. 256. $49.95 cloth, $18.95 paper." International Journal of Middle East Studies 32, no. 2 (May 2000): 319–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s002074380000252x.
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David Waldner's book is a rigorously argued and impressively sustained account of the relationship between state-building and economic growth in four late-developing countries: South Korea, Syria, Taiwan, and Turkey. By systematically and crisply using a comparative method to bring a unified story to these different histories, Waldner demonstrates in a masterly way the benefits of genuine comparative inquiry; contributes to our understanding of the painful results of economic development in the Middle East; and uses Middle Eastern cases to advance our understanding of the complicated and mediated linkage between state formation and economic development. This ambitious book deserves a wide audience.
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Martin, Kevin W. "PRESENTING THE “TRUE FACE OF SYRIA” TO THE WORLD: URBAN DISORDER AND CIVILIZATIONAL ANXIETIES AT THE FIRST DAMASCUS INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION." International Journal of Middle East Studies 42, no. 3 (July 15, 2010): 411a. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020743810000747.
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The postwar period of 1945 to 1963 witnessed dramatic political and economic transformations in Syria. To date, however, the cultural manifestations of these transformations remain largely unexamined. This article seeks to begin the process of redressing that historiographic imbalance and recovering the meaning of these transformations for those who experienced them through a close reading of the discourse surrounding the first Damascus International Exposition of 1954. This event constituted the stage upon which the recently independent, and still fragile, Syrian state conducted an exercise in autoethnography, the attempt to define and represent itself to its citizenry and to the outside world, as well as the screen upon which Syrians' collective longings were focused and projected. Thus, I treat this body of discourse as a unique opportunity to apprehend an emergent elite's anxieties about foreigners' perceptions of their country, as expressed in this stratum's homiletic discourse about street begging and other forms of urban disorder that threatened to disrupt the exposition's staging.
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Khizhnyak, Anastasiya Vladimirovna. "Military cooperation of Russia with the Syrian Arab Republic as an instrument of the Russia's New Middle East Policy (2000-2008)." Genesis: исторические исследования, no. 5 (May 2022): 19–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.25136/2409-868x.2022.5.38078.
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The article examines the key aspects of military-technical cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Syrian Arab Republic in the first two terms of Vladimir Putin's tenure as President of Russia. Relations between Moscow and Damascus in the sphere of arms and special equipment supplies are considered in the general context of the updated foreign policy of the Russian Federation, initiated by Vladimir Putin, and which implied, among other things, the return of Russia's position as an active geopolitical player in the Middle East. Having long-standing political and economic ties with Moscow, Syria was rightly considered by the Russian leadership as the most suitable ally in solving the task mentioned above. Analyzing the history of supplies to Syria of the main articles of Russian military products, the author comes to the conclusion that during the period under review, Moscow managed to lay a new solid foundation for bilateral relations, even though it had to be done to a certain extent with an eye to the position of other regional players and, above all, the countries of the collective West. When building its political course towards the SAR in the period under review, the Kremlin adhered primarily to the principle of restraint and pragmatism, taking into account the realities of international relations in the Middle East region and setting as its main goal the counteraction of the hegemonic claims of the United States, which sought to turn this already conflictogenic point of the planet into a zone of "controlled chaos".
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HEIDEMANN, STEFAN. "Die Fundmünzen von Harrān und ihr Verhältnis zur lokalen Geschichte." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 65, no. 2 (June 2002): 267–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0041977x02000101.
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During the 1940s and 1950s D. Storm Rice and Seton Lloyd, together with the Turkish Antiquity Authority, undertook archaeological excavations in Harrān. With the exception of two preliminary reports and a few articles, the excavations remain largely unpublished.The 264 coins constitute an independent source on the regional, political and economic history of Harrān. For the Umayyad and early Abbasid period, the coins constitute a source on the pattern of the city's regional integration. Two-thirds of the coins date from the Ayyubid period. The circulation is characterized by a competition of different coinages: first, those which were struck for the political entities to which Harrān belonged; and second, imported coins, i.e. of Byzantine and Rūm-Saljūq origin. Third, copper coins from Northern Syria, despite the fact that the Diyār Mudar and Northern Syria belong to different branches of the Ayyubid dynasty. Two dirhams of the Saljūq prince al-Malik Mas‘ūd, who resided in Mosul between 504/1111 and 511/1118, are historical documents of importance.
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Weiss, Dieter. "Ibn Khaldun on Economic Transformation." International Journal of Middle East Studies 27, no. 1 (February 1995): 29–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020743800061560.
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A number of Arab countries have been exposed to structural adjustment programs. Under the guidance of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, these programs are aimed at making various kinds of Arab socialist and mixed-economy regimes more “market-friendly,” a policy that started in the 1950s and 1960s in countries like Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, and Egypt. Considering the mounting social tension that results from continuing population growth, urban agglomeration, and unemployment, it would be naive to expect—with Fukuyama—an “end of history” as most countries try to adopt market regimes and to strengthen civil society and parliamentary democracy. As Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) well knew, economic and social change is a never-ending process. In the search for viable and sustainable strategies it may be stimulating to consider the insights of this great scholar of the Arab world who wrote 600 years ago.IBN KHALDUN'S SOCIAL SYSTEMS THEORYIbn Khaldun was born in Tunis into an influential clan of South Arabian origin with substantial influence in Islamic Spain and, after the fall of Seville in 1248, in north-western Africa. He was exposed to the turmoils of his time. He held his first position in 1352 at the court at Tunis at the age of 20 and then went on to high political, administrative, diplomatic, and judicial posts in the service of various rulers in the Maghrib, Spain, and Egypt.
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Gelvin, James L. "The Social Origins of Popular Nationalism in Syria: Evidence for a New Framework." International Journal of Middle East Studies 26, no. 4 (November 1994): 645–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020743800061158.
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In hisInterpreting the French Revolution, François Furet defines political sociability as the “specific mode of organizing the relations between citizens (or subjects) and power, as well as among citizens (or subjects) themselves in relation to power.” According to Furet, shifts from one form of political sociability to another can and do take place, particularly during periods of comprehensive economic, political, and social change. One such period preceded the events of 1789 when, as an unintended consequence of state building and economic development under the ancien régime, a democratic/horizontal political sociability increasingly replaced the hierarchic/ vertical political sociability that had previously ordered French society.
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Sidhva, Dina, Ann-Christin Zuntz, Ruba al Akash, Ayat Nashwan, and Areej Al-Majali. "‘In Exile, the Woman Became Everything’." Journal of Humanitarian Affairs 3, no. 1 (January 1, 2021): 4–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.7227/jha.054.
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This article explores the intersections of generational and gender dynamics with humanitarian governance in Jordan that cause shifts in the division of labour within displaced families. Drawing on life history interviews and focus group discussions with seventeen Syrian women in Jordan in spring 2019, we explore the monetary and non-monetary contributions of middle-aged females to the livelihoods of refugee households. Older women’s paid and unpaid labour holds together dispersed families whose fathers have been killed or incapacitated, or remain in Syria or in the Gulf. In doing so, many women draw on their pre-war experience of living with – or rather apart from – migrant husbands. Increased economic and social responsibilities coincide with a phase in our interviewees’ lifecycle in which they traditionally acquire greater authority as elders, especially as mothers-in-law. While power inequalities between older and younger Syrian women are not new, they have been exacerbated by the loss of resources in displacement. Our insights offer a counterpoint to humanitarian attempts at increasing refugees’ ‘self-reliance’ through small-scale entrepreneurship. For now, culturally appropriate and practically feasible jobs for middle-aged women are found in their living rooms. Supportive humanitarian action should allow them to upscale their businesses and address power dynamics within families.
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Bielicki, Paweł. "Russian-Israeli Relations during the Reign of Prime Minister Netanyahu: Abrasive Friendship or Realpolitik?" Historia i Polityka, no. 36 (43) (June 1, 2021): 9–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/hip.2021.011.
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The subject of my interest is to present the most important determinants of relations between the Russian Federation and Israel. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the current state of affairs in mutual contacts and their importance for international security. In addition, it will be important to try to answer the question of whether Russia will continue to play an important role as an economic and political partner of Israel in the near future, in the face of the gradual containment of the Syrian conflict.
At the beginning, I intend to refer to the history of relations of both countries, dating back to the time of the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the breaking of diplomatic relations after the Six-Day War in June 1967. In the following part of the discussion, I present the relations of both entities immediately after the collapse of the Soviet empire and coming to power of Vladimir Putin, who from the beginning of his term in office has sought to significantly improve contacts with Israel. Then, I raise the problem of Moscow-Tel Aviv contacts after Benjamin Netanyahu took over as prime minister again and after the Arab Spring, which implied the conflict in Syria, during which Russia and Israel established cooperation. It will also be important to trace the attitude of the authorities in Tel Aviv to the annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine. I would also like to refer to the relationship of both entities on the historical and cultural level, as well as on the economic and military level.
In the summary, I highlight future perspectives and try to determine whether the current relations of both countries will intensify in the face of the end of war in Syria, and whether we can observe a close alliance of both countries now and in the future, or a limited partnership, determined by the need to implement real policy in the world.
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Irfan, Nimra, Madiha Nawaz, and Sobia Jamil. "US Economic Sanctions: A Controversial Foreign Policy Tool in International Politics." Global Economics Review VI, no. I (March 30, 2021): 152–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/ger.2021(vi-i).12.
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In this current century, the use of economic sanctions by the superpowers, particularly the US, has become regular and aggressive. The US imposes sanctions and economic embargoes on states and groups who do not follow US-designed standards regarding manufacturing weapons, nuclear technology and resolving international disputes. However, it has failed most of the time to alter behaviour of the sanctioned countries. Sanctions programs of Syria, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea are a few of the many examples which prove the failure of American sanctions. This qualitative research article examines the politics of the US behind its sanctions policy along with negative impacts on targeted countries. It also analyses Donald Trump's aggressive sanctions policy, which is said as record-breaking in American history of economic sanctions. The whole analysis explains targeted sanctions policy is controversial and ineffective. These sanctions kill civilians and restrict them from basic necessities like food, medicines, and employment. Additionally, in a globalized world, states do not get much affected by sanctions. If one market closes its door on a state, it starts looking for other trade partners.
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Reilly, James A. "Sharī‘a Court Registers and Land Tenure around Nineteenth-Century Damascus." Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 21, no. 2 (December 1987): 155–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0026318400018691.
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The importance of sharī‘a law-court registers as sources for the social and economic history of Syria/Bilād al-Shām in the Ottoman period has been recognized for some time. A number of studies based on them have appeared, but the registers are so vast that scholars have in fact barely begun to investigate them. The Historical Documents Center (Markaz al-Wathā’iq al-Tārīkhīya) in Damascus holds over one thousand volumes. Additional originals exist in Israel/Palestine and a large collection of Syrian and Palestinian registers is available on microfilm at the University of Jordan (Amman). Although it is difficult to use the Lebanese registers nowadays (and those of Sidon may have been destroyed) a volume of the Tripoli registers from the seventeenth century has been published in facsimile by the Lebanese University. Dearth of material, therefore, is not a problem. One obstacle facing researchers, however, is unfamiliarity with the manner in which the registers present information. Persons whose native tongue is not Arabic have the additional problem of language to overcome. Therefore, an orientation to the registers is helpful, and this article is written with that purpose in mind.
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Herzstein, Rafael. "Saint-Joseph University of Beirut: An Enclave of the French-Speaking Communities in the Levant, 1875–1914." Itinerario 32, no. 2 (July 2008): 67–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0165115300001996.
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The origin of the Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, or USJ, dates back to the Seminar of Ghazir founded by the Jesuit Fathers in 1843. The College of Ghazir, established with the intention of training the local Maronite clergy, was transferred to Beirut in 1875. This centre for higher studies was named Saint-Joseph University. In his audience of 25 February 1881, Pope Leo XIII conferred the title of Pontifical University on the USJ.This article deals with the history of the USJ, the first great French-speaking Jesuit institution in the area which, at the time, bore the name of “Syria”. (The term Syria is used henceforth to represent the geographical entity of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which includes Syria and Lebanon of the present.) The underlying reasons for the creation of Saint-Joseph University of Beirut have to do with its being located in a province of the Ottoman Empire coveted by the future mandatory power, France. By the 1870s, the Ottoman Empire was being preserved chiefly by the competition between the European powers, all of whom wanted chunks of it. The Ottoman territory, like the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, encompassed a great many ethnic groups whose own nationalism was also stirring. Under Ottoman rule, the region of the Levant developed economic and religious ties with Europe. Open to the West, it became a hotbed of political strife between various foreign nations including France, Russia and Britain. These powerful countries assumed the protection of certain ethnic and religious groups, with France supporting the Christian Maronites and Britain supporting the Druzes.
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Jalode, Alian Abdefatah Mohamd. "The Bilad al-Sham Conferences: Their Role in The Development of Historical Writing." Jordan Journal for History and Archaeology 16, no. 3 (October 31, 2022): 89–111. http://dx.doi.org/10.54134/jjha.v16i3.656.
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Conferences on the History of Bilad al-Sham have been held at the University of Jordan since the first one in 1974. The conferences examined various topics in the history of Bilad al-Sham through different historical periods, shedding light on various aspects of the political, economic, and social history of Bilad al-Sham, and studying the development of systems and institutions related to Bilad al-Sham across Jordan, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon. Hundreds of researchers have participated in these conferences, representing various Jordanian and international academic institutions and universities. In addition to the conferences and the publication of their proceedings, the History of Bilad al-Sham Committee has published many specialized studies and analytical indexes related to the history of the Bilad al-Sham in general and the history of Jordan in particular. This paper introduces those conferences and the studies about Bilad al-Sham that have been published, as well as traces the contributions of Jordanian researchers in those conferences and their impact on the development of historical writing about Jordan.
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Pétriat, Philippe. "Caravan Trade in the Late Ottoman Empire: the ʿAqīl Network and the Institutionalization of Overland Trade." Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 63, no. 1-2 (December 26, 2019): 38–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341504.
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AbstractBuilding on recent works on Central Asia and using Ottoman, Arabic and European sources, this article challenges the idea that caravan trade was declining in the 19th and 20th-century Ottoman Middle East. It explores the caravan trade’s economic and political dimensions from the Gulf to Syria. This trade’s resurgence was simultaneous with the reassertion of imperial control over the steppe. In that changing context, the institutionalization of caravan trade by groups such as the ʿAqīl traders kept overland trade lively and arguably competitive.
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Bokhari, Kamran Asghar. "Challenges to Democracy in the Middle East." American Journal of Islam and Society 19, no. 1 (January 1, 2002): 124–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v19i1.1958.
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Many scholars have attempted to tackle the question of why democracy has seemingly failed to take root in the Islamic milieu, in general, and the pre dominantlyArab Middle East, in particular, while the rest of the world has witnessed the fall of"pax-authoritaria" especially in the wake of the demercratic revolution triggered by the failure of communism. Some view this resistance to the Third Wave, as being rooted in the Islamic cultural dynamics of the region, whereas others will ascribe it to the level of political development (or the lack thereof). An anthology of essays, Challenges to Democracy in the Middle East furnishes the reader with five historical casestudies that seek to explain the arrested socio politico-economic development of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey, and the resulting undemercratic political culture that domjnates the overall political landscape of the Middle East.
The first composition in this omnibus is "The Crisis of Democracy in Twentieth Century Syria and Lebanon," authored by Bill Harris, senior lecturer of political studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Haris compares and contrasts the political development of Syria and Lebanon during the French mandate period and under the various regimes since then. He examines how the two competing forms of nationalism, i.e., Lebanonism and Arabism, along with sectarianism, are the main factors that have contributed to the consolidation of one-party rule in Syria, and the I 6-year internecine conflict in Lebanon. After a brief overview of the early history of both countries, the author spends a great deal oftime discussing the relatively more recent political developments: Syria from 1970 onwards, and Lebanon from I 975 to the I 990s. Harris expresses deep pessimism regarding the future of democratic politics in both countries, which in his opinion is largely due to the deep sectarian cleavages in both states.
The next treatise is "Re-inventing Nationalism in Bthi Iraq 1968- 1994: SupraTerritorial Identities and What Lies Below," by Amatzia Baram, professor of Middle East History at the University of Haifa. Baram surveys the Ba·th's second stint in power (1968-present) in lraq. Baram's opinion is that a shift has occurred in Bthist ideology from an integrative Pan-Arab program to an Iraqi-centered Arab nationalism. She attributes this to Saddam's romance with the past, on the one hand, which is the reason for the incorporation of themes from both the ancient Mesopotamian civilization and the medieval Abbasid caliphal era, and, on the other hand, to Islam and tribalism, that inform the pragmatic concerns of the Ba'thist ideological configuration ...
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Znaien, Nessim. "Alcohol consumption, economic resource and League of Nations pressures in French Syria and Lebanon (1923–1946)." Middle Eastern Studies 58, no. 2 (December 7, 2021): 301–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2021.2007083.
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Tölölyan, Khachig. "Elites and Institutions in the Armenian Transnation." Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 9, no. 1 (March 2000): 107–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.9.1.107.
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The sun never sets on the Armenian diaspora. Its constituent communities include—in a descending order that reflects population and not cultural, political, or economic importance—communities in Russia (nearly 2 million), the United States (800,000), Georgia (400,000), France (250,000), the Ukraine (150,000), Lebanon (105,000), Iran (ca. 100,000), Syria (70,000), Argentina (60,000), Turkey (60,000), Canada (40,000), and Australia (30,000). There are some twenty other communities with smaller populations, ranging from 25,000 down to 3,000, in Britain, Greece, Germany, Brazil, Sweden, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, the Gulf Emirates, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Hungary, Uzbekistan, and Ethiopia.
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Symington, Dorit. "Late Bronze Age Writing-Boards and their Uses: textual evidence from Anatolia and Syria." Anatolian Studies 41 (December 1991): 111–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3642934.
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It has been known from textual sources for some time that besides clay tablets, the traditional writing material in the Ancient Near East, wooden writing-boards were also used by the scribes.M. San Nicolò first drew attention to the fact that writing-boards were widely employed in temple and palace administration in Mesopotamia in the first millennium B.C. and the textual evidence gathered by him was soon to be confirmed archaeologically by the discovery of several such writing-boards at Nimrud. Equally, the existence of wooden writing material in Hittite context has long been established, but no example has ever been found. It is generally thought that private and economic records which are almost totally lacking in the archives at Boǧazköy must have been written on perishable material.The elusive nature of wooden writing-boards manifests itself not only archaeologically by the unlikelihood of their survival but also by the fact that, as a rule, they deserved little mention in the cuneiform texts. Consequently, the quantity of wooden writing material that may have been in use and did not survive is impossible to gauge. Similarly, it would be unwarranted to deduce that centres whose archives have not contributed to the subject, were unfamiliar with writing on wood.
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Munawar, Nour A. "Reconstructing Cultural Heritage in Conflict Zones: Should Palmyra be Rebuilt?" Ex Novo: Journal of Archaeology 2 (December 31, 2017): 33–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.32028/exnovo.v2i0.388.
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Cultural heritage has fallen under the threat of being of damaged and/or erased due to armed conflicts, and destruction has increasingly become a major part of daily news all over the world. The destruction of cultural heritage has escalated in Syria as the ongoing armed conflict has spread to World Heritage Sites, such as Palmyra and the old city of Aleppo. The devastation of Syria’s war has deliberately and systematically targeted archaeological monuments dating from the prehistoric, Byzantine, Roman, and Islamic periods, with no distinction being made of the cultural, historical, and socio-economic significance of such sites. The violence of this conflict is not, of course, limited to the destruction of cultural property, and has first and foremost served to introduce non-state radical actors, such as Daesh, who targeted local people, archaeological site, museum staff and facilities.
The destruction and re-purposing of monuments in Syria, such as Daesh’s attempts to turn churches into mosques, are heavy-handed attempts to re-write history by erasing physical evidence. In this paper, I explore the semantics of continuous attempts to reconstruct cultural heritage sites, destroyed by Daesh, during the ongoing war, and how the destruction and reconstruction of Syria’s heritage have been deployed to serve political agendas.
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Rieger, Anna-Katharina. "‘Un-Central’ Landscapes of NE-Africa and W-Asia—Landscape Archaeology as a Tool for Socio-Economic History in Arid Landscapes." Land 8, no. 1 (December 22, 2018): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/land8010001.
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Arid regions in the Old World Dry Belt are assumed to be marginal regions, not only in ecological terms, but also economically and socially. Such views in geography, archaeology, and sociology are—despite the real limits of living in arid landscapes—partly influenced by derivates of Central Place Theory as developed for European medieval city-based economies. For other historical time periods and regions, this narrative inhibited socio-economic research with data-based and non-biased approaches. This paper aims, in two arid Graeco-Roman landscapes, to show how far approaches from landscape archaeology and social network analysis combined with the “small world phenomenon” can help to overcome a dichotomic view on core places and their areas, and understand settlement patterns and economic practices in a nuanced way. With Hauran in Southern Syria and Marmarica in NW-Egypt, I revise the concept of marginality, and look for qualitatively and spatially defined relationships between settlements, for both resource management and social organization. This ‘un-central’ perspective on arid landscapes provides insights on how arid regions functioned economically and socially due to a particular spatial concept and connection with their (scarce) resources, mainly water.
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Salman, M., and W. Mualla. "Water demand management in Syria: centralized and decentralized views." Water Policy 10, no. 6 (December 1, 2008): 549–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2008.065.
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The countries of the Middle East are characterized by large temporal and spatial variations in precipitation and with limited surface and groundwater resources. The rapid growth and development in the region have led to mounting pressures on scarce resources to satisfy water demands. The dwindling availability of water to meet development needs has become a significant regional issue, especially as a number of countries are facing serious water deficit. Syria is becoming progressively shorter of water as future demand is coming close to or even surpassing available resources. Syria had a population of 18 million in 2002, and its total renewable water resources (TRWR) is estimated around 16 × 109 m3 per year. In other words, the per capita TRWR is less than the water scarcity index (1,000 m3 per person per year) which will make the country experience chronic stress that will hinder its economic development and entail serious degradation. Unfortunately, if water demand at current prices continues to increase in the same way, Syria will experience an alarming deficit between the available resources and the potential needs in the near future. In Syria, until fairly recently, emphasis has been placed on the supply side of water development. Demand management and improvement of patterns of water use has received less attention. The aim was always to augment the national water budget with new water. The most popular way of achieving this aim was to control surface flows by building new dams and creating multi-purpose reservoirs (there are now around 160 dams in Syria with a total capacity of 14 × 109 m3). Irrigation schemes were also built and agricultural activities were expanded greatly to achieve self-sufficiency in essential food products and food security. However, this is no longer achievable with the limited water resources available; water demand is rapidly increasing and easily mobilizable resources have already been exploited. The objective of this paper is to think of different possible ways to manage water demand in the agricultural sector of Syria. It mainly involves two main management options: taxation as a centralized option and water markets as a decentralized one. While water demand management refers to improving both productive and allocative efficiency of water use, this paper focuses on two allocative measures (taxation and water markets) and does not thoroughly cover productive measures such as rehabilitation and upgrading of irrigation schemes or improving operation. However, the paper does not attempt to settle the question for or against each option but tries to find some elements to determine under which conditions the option can lead to expected outcomes taking into account the history of management and the local conditions in Syria: political, social and economical. The paper also looks at other alternatives such as cooperative action and lifting subsidies and argues their possible association to the main management options that may help in reducing the difficulties of implementation.
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Heydemann, Steven. "Civil War, Economic Governance & State Reconstruction in the Arab Middle East." Daedalus 147, no. 1 (January 2018): 48–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_00473.
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Civil wars currently underway in Libya, Syria, and Yemen demonstrate that patterns of economic governance during violent conflict exhibit significant continuity with prewar practices, raising important questions along three lines. First, violent conflict may disrupt prewar practices less than is often assumed. Second, continuity in governance highlights the limits of state fragility frameworks for postconflict reconstruction that view violent conflict as creating space for institutional reform. Third, continuity of prewar governance practices has important implications for the relationship between sovereignty, governance, and conflict resolution. Civil wars in the Middle East have not created conditions conducive to reconceptualizing sovereignty or decoupling sovereignty and governance. Rather, parties to conflict compete to capture and monopolize the benefits that flow from international recognition. Under these conditions, civil wars in the Middle East will not yield easily to negotiated solutions. Moreover, to the extent that wartime economic orders reflect deeply institutionalized norms and practices, postconflict conditions will limit possibilities for interventions defined in terms of overcoming state fragility.