Let us face it: these past ten years of wars and destruction don't encourage optimism. But with this series of articles and opinions we would like to raise awareness in preparation, debating the economic aspects of Syrian reconstruction policies.
Will the new Syria be any better than what the new Palestine proved to be? Annalena di Giovanni responds to the conversation between Fawaz Gerges, Rosemary Hollis and Robin Yassin-Kassab.
Before the uprising, Erdoğan and Davutoğlu tried to turn Damascus and Aleppo into safe market havens. Perhaps Turkey still expects eventually to have the lion's share in a future reconstructed Syria, but the ruling AKP party may pay a high price for its regional policies.
A new social contract is needed in Syria. The Syrian people need to be treated like adults, individuals who are empowered to partake in the social, political and economic future of their country.
The only Arab country where protests started from rural areas might find itself facing an internationally funded reconstruction which will award money to urban centres, thus abandoning the very roots of the current crisis. The only solution is to build economic awareness. Starting from now.
Often, attention to the economic dimension of a transition or peace-building process is neglected - and at peril. Can lessons be learned to look ahead in Syria?
The poet Adonis who has called on Assad to cede power to what initially began as peaceful protests, was also the subject of sectarian0-fuelled online death threats for his criticism of the rebels’ transgressions and his position against regional and international intervention.
The Syrian social movement has to be conscious of the necessity of establishing a just economy. Strong checks need to be built against the post-war government so that all Syrians understand the conditions of aid and consequences of reconstruction plans on their lives and the lives of their childre
We can conclude from this that the regime priority is to keep control on its supportive cantons rather than keeping Syria whole. We are seeing the partitioning of Syria.
The Syria Trust for Development was beginning to play an important role in Syria, when the Syrian uprising took place: an excerpt from a study of Syrian civil society on the eve of revolution that helps us to understand some of the deeper changes that were under way.
Iran's strategic and ideological investment in the Assad regime may force smaller, unpalatable political compromises to secure a 'solution' in Syria.
Does our deep desire to attain the goals of the revolution, blind us to reality and to the process that is unfolding?