The politics of militarizing welfare in Syria -

Abstract

The sequence of events that constituted the “Arab awakening,” exposed key development trends for upgrading regimes moving towards neo-liberal policy preferences. While the imposition of economic liberalization can lead to radical changes in a regime’s base of support, the implicit strategy of using the allotted benefits provided by military employment can offset the groups effectively disenfranchised by the new arrangements. Syria furnishes us with an exceptional case study to examine coalition dynamics where uniquely high levels of military mobilization and socialization transformed the trajectory of Syrian state building. In the framework presented here, it is precisely the social and economic conditions of military mobilization, rural livelihood strategies, and military welfare incentives, rather than the sectarian struggle of military elites, that hold center stage. This thesis hypothesizes that the lack of a post-populist developmental state in Syria coupled with the micro-level choices made by elites to subordinate rational economic policies to the political logic of regime security led to the crystallization of a militarized social pact. Yet, this political-economic arrangement was directly dependent upon the availability of direct or indirect access to rents. The framework is tested against the 2000-10 period where basic military welfare incentives deteriorated in unison with the majority of rural livelihoods that were affected by the post-2005 period of reforms. This thesis argues that the regression of Syria’s militarized welfare regime into a form of “militarized liberalization” after 2005 provided impetus for revolutionary mobilization.