Publication

This commentary first explores the reasons why Syria began its slide towards civil war in 2011. (The web of corruption involving the Assad family, the country's security apparatus, and their business cohorts was a primary one.) The text's author then goes on to argue that a genuine country-wide peace settlement would require 1) the dismantling of the Alawite deep state and the business-security nexus that has financed it; 2) the rebalancing of the state's bureaucracy, but without replacing Alawite sectarianism with Sunni sectarianism; and 3) the placing of reconstruction funds under international administration.