Untangling the Gordian Knot The Socio-Cultural Challenge of Syria

Abstract

Terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) have capitalized on the Syrian Civil War to seize territory and build support for transnational jihadist terrorism. This paper seeks to illuminate the socio-cultural tensions within Syria that are root causes of the current conflict and thus enabling the growth of ISIL. The six major tensions examined in this paper are: modernism-traditionalism, socioeconomic antagonism, ethnic conflict, Islam-Islamism, takfiri driven conflict, and sectarianism. This paper traces the development of the underlying issues feeding the current conflict, and posits a conflict of identity has been the root problem. The conclusion notes the divergent views of the anti-Assad and anti-ISIL factions, and suggests secular ideologies such as Arab nationalism and Kurdish nationalism provide the strongest counter narrative to ISILs jihadi-Islamism.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 30, 2015
Accession Number
AD1000870

Entities

People

  • William H. Mengel

Organizations

  • Joint Military Operations Department

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil War
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Governments
  • Identities
  • Information Operations
  • Military Operations
  • Minority Groups
  • National Politics
  • Nationalism
  • Political Ideologies
  • Political Movements
  • Psychology
  • Socialism
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • War
  • War Colleges

Fields of Study

  • Sociology

Readers

  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.