Syrian Civil War In Regional Security Perspective

• Název práce v češtině: Syrská občanská válka v kontextu regionální bezpečnosti
• Název v anglickém jazyce: Syrian Civil War In Regional Security Perspective
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2019/2020
• Typ práce: diplomová práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Katedra politologie (23-KP)
• Vedoucí / školitel: Jaroslav Weinfurter, M.A., M.Sc., Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem
• Datum přihlášení: 07.06.2020
• Datum zadání: 07.06.2020
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 26.01.2022 08:00
• Místo konání obhajoby: Pekařská 16, JPEK313, 313, Malá učebna, 3.patro
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 03.05.2021
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 26.01.2022
• Oponenti: prof. PhDr. Emil Aslan, Ph.D.

Zásady pro vypracování

After nearly a decade, the Syrian civil war is still far from being resolved. Due to this conflict, different parts of the world began to change dramatically and Europe itself went through a migration crisis that changed the political landscape across different states. The Syrian civil war that has started as a local outburst soon turned into a proxy-war conflict that was able to draw-in various local, regional and global actors. Due to this fact, the Syrian civil war presents a unique, modern-day phenomena in which one might be able to evaluate the motives and actions of different players based on their policies and interests. The course of the conflict was chaotic from the very start due to the gradual entanglement of different actors and because of this situation, the war presents us with a possibility to construct a specific overview of the conflict in previously unexplored way. I have chosen this topic precisely because of this challenge. In my research project, I would like to present the reader with a full and detailed picture of the conflict that will be based upon a theory specifically crafted for regional conflict issues – Regional security complex theory. With this in mind however, the Regional security complex theory is only suited for states as actors and as such we shall also make use of the concept of Borderscapes in order to incorporate other, non-state and private actors into the matrix. The purpose of this work is not to summarize the course of the war, but rather the strategies and interests of different actors in order to provide the reader with a possibility to look upon the different motives and actions taken by the actors in a well arranged, cohesive and original way based upon regional theory that will be accompanied by the concept of Borderscapes.

Possible contributions:
The Syrian civil war presents an unclear and complex topic that is by its currency still a fertile ground for the development of many original perspectives and perceptions of its nature. Although the Regional security complex theory is a well-suited concept to be used within this work, the theoretical background has also some major shortcomings and the Syrian civil war might help us to address the weaker parts of this concept. The RSC theory might be viewed as an insufficient since it is not taking into account non-governmental and private actors and the Syrian civil war presents us with a possibility to adjust this theory to be used within modern-day, regional conflicts that incorporate more than state actors. As such, the point of this work is not only to present a specific view of the conflict but also a specific view of the theory itself since throughout the research, we will be inherently faced with a need to adjust the original concept. This fact opens up to possibility to merge the RSC theory with the concept of Borderscapes in a previously unmade way. The concept of Borderscapes allows us to work with non-governmental and private actors and it will help us to hold a mirror towards the original Westphalian sovereignty model that does not take into consideration other than state actors. The merit of this work is also built upon another major flaw of the RSC theory, which is linked to the first one. That is the fact, that within the original RSC theory of B. Buzan and O. Weaver, the authors were already analysing the post-war Middle East region and in general, they are viewing the region in the same manner as regions of the developed western world in terms of sovereignty and functioning of the state apparatus. Syrian civil war is one of many indications that this perception might be quite wrong due to different historical background, evolution, mentality and political practice and as such, this work is also aiming to re-visit the original stance of the authors towards the Middle East region, namely Syria.

Seznam odborné literatury

ALLSOPP, Harriet. The Kurds of Northern Syria: Governance, Diversity and Conflicts [online]. I.B. Tauris, 2019 [cit. 2020-05-07].
AUGUSTUS, Richard Norton. Hezbollah: A Short History [online]. Princeton University Press, 3rd edition, 2014 [cit. 2020-05-07].
BUZAN, Barry; WAEVER, Ole. Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security [online]. Cambridge University Press, 2003 [cit. 2020-05-07].
BRAMBILLA, Chiara. Exploring the Critical Potential of the Borderscapes Concept [online]. Geopolitics, 20, 2015 [cit. 2020-05-07].
EJAZ, Ahmed. The Russian Factor in the Syrian Civil War [online]. Journal of International Business, 6 (1), 2019 [cit. 2020-05-07].
FRAZIER, Derrick; STEWART-INGERSOLL, Robert. Regional Powers and Security: A Framework For Understanding Order Within Regional Security Complexes [online]. European Journal of International Relations 16(4), 2010 [cit. 2020-05-07].
KOVACEVIC, Marko. The Influence of State-Building on Security Dynamics within the Framework of Regional Security Complex Theory [online]. Western Balkans Security Observer, 21, 2011 [cit. 2020-05-07].
KRICHKER, Dana. Making Sense of Borderscapes: Space, Imagination and Experience [online]. Geopolitics, 2019 [cit. 2020-05-07].
MEININGHAUS, Ester. War in Syria: The Translocal Dimension of Fighter Mobilization [online]. Bonn International Centre for Conversion, 31 (3), 2020 [cit. 2020-05-07].
YAZICI, Hanefi. Proxy Wars In Syria and a New Balance of Power in the Middle East [online]. Journal of Management and Economics Research, 16 (3), 2018 [cit. 2020-05-07].

Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce

Research target is to conduct a large-scale, detailed overview of the conflict based upon the motives and actions of various actors. This research will be focusing on answering the question of “What is the nature of the regional security system within present-day Syria?” This question is also additionally complemented with four different sub-questions concerning this topic:
1. What number of actors can we consider as the important players in this conflict?
What kind of actors can we find based on the presumption, that it was also non-governmental and private actors that took part in the conflict? What was their role?
2. What can we say about the interplay of global powers in this region and their actions? What was their mechanism of penetration and how successful were their actions?
3. Should the area of Syria be considered as an area, where one or more units and their security dynamics stands back to back based on the concept of RSC theory or is the area rather reflecting the traditional realist view of a buffer state?
4. What are the main patterns of amity of enmity of the global and regional actors between themselves?
The hypotheses of my research project is that the original Regional Security complex theory is partially outdated when its used within the modern-day, regional conflicts such as the Syrian civil war. Based on the found data, the Regional security complex theory needs to be adjusted in order be used in modern-day, proxy conflicts and as such, we also have to correctly asses the roles of non-governmental players should their action in the conflict be important to the overall picture and development.

As for the methodology, I have chosen the comparative, qualitative, historical analysis of written and spoken documents. This analysis shall be based upon process tracing of the official documents of states, policy papers of various non-governmental organizations and different publications and books addressing this topic in detail by which I shall be able to construct the motives and interests of different actors and players. This method shall be potentially also accompanied by several interviews that will serve as a side source of information in order to use primary sources of information if there is a possibility to do so. Afterwards, I shall make use of a general analysis in which I will compare the found data in order to provide the reader with an explanatory report that will be mounted on the Regional security complex theory and the concept of Borderscapes. Based upon this process, I shall be hopefully able to answer my research questions and provide the reader with new and original perspective of the conflict.

Planned outline
1. Introduction
2. Conceptual and theoretical framework
3. Critical revaluation of the RSC theory and its usage within the Syrian conflict
4. Empirical-analytical section
4a) Syrian Armed Forces
4b) Free Syrian Army
4c) ISIS
4d) Al-Qaeda (Jabhat al-Nusra)
4e) Hezbollah
4f) Kurdish militias
4g) Turkey
4h) Iran
4i) Saudi Arabia
j) Israel
4k) United States
4l) Russia
5. Conclusion
5. Literature overview