ABSTRACT
The Syrian uprising set in motion transformations within Syrian society that would unfold in relation to the conflict. The Syrian business community was especially impacted by the outbreak of the conflict and the multiple pressures caused by economic contraction, international sanctions, and capital flight. This contribution asks how these pressures produced transformations within the Syrian business community. I argue that these transformations and the emergence of war economies produced a restratification of the business community, especially at the elite level. In particular, a conflict elite emerged that was broadly aligned with the Syrian regime and positioned to exploit economic opportunities created by the conflict. The growth of this conflict elite substantially changed the regime’s patterns of elite recruitment and introduced a new group of entrepreneurs into the business elite who congealed around the Syrian regime’s economic needs and the economic opportunities therein. The introduction of this new conflict elite marginalized some of the old elite, producing a new balance of social forces shaping the trajectory of the conflict.
