ABSTRACT

Chapter 3 traces the emergence of the Syrian uprising for democratic change in March 2011 and its subsequent descent into a civil war. It shows how activists were aware of the context in which they mobilized, but were still overtaken by the escalation of the ensuing conflict. As with the other case studies, this chapter seeks to understand the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of this process. It pinpoints three country-specific issues – increasing sectarian polarization, security (rather than accountability) as source of political legitimacy, and an unstable international context – that influenced mechanisms in the process of turning the Syrian uprising into a civil war.