Horizontal inequality and multi-sectarian societies
understanding the factors that led to the Syrian State’s socio political disruption after the Arab spring
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22456/2178-8839.126987Keywords:
Syrian Conflict, Horizontal inequality, SectarianismAbstract
After the beginning of the Arab Spring and the conflict in Syria, researchers from all over the world are trying to understand the reasons that led to the civil war in that country. Many hypotheses are raised, from the deterioration of socioeconomic conditions, the increasingly harsh political and police repression against the regime's opponents, to the interest of regional powers in changing the Syrian regime. In this article, we decided to explore another dimension of conflict. After applying a questionnaire to a group of Syrian refugees in Brazil, we sought to understand the perception of respondents about the existence or not of horizontal inequality between the Syrian confessional groups, in the economic, social, religious, political and cultural spheres. The result found sheds light on the important role of the perception of horizontal inequality between groups as an important source of discontent and frustration, which may have contributed to the breaking of the Syrian State's social political pact.
Downloads
References
ARAMPATZI, Efstratia; BURGER, Martijn; IANCHOVICHINA, Elena; RÖHRICHT, Tina; VEENHOVEN, Ruut. Unhappy Development: Dissatisfaction With Life on the Eve of the Arab Spring. The Review of Income and Wealth. v.64, n.1, p.S80-113, 2018.
ASSOUAD, Lydia, CHANCEL, Lucas; MORGAN, Marc. Extreme Inequality: Evidence from Brazil, India, the Middle East, and South Africa. In: AEA Papers and Proceedings, v.108 p.119-23, 2018.
AZMEH, Shamel. The Uprising of the Marginalized: a socioeconomic perspective of the Syrian Uprising. LSE Middle East Centre Paper. n.6, Middle East Centre, London School of Economics and Political Sciente. 2014.
BATATU, Hanna. Syria's Peasantry: the descendants of its lesser rural notables and their politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.
BIBI, Sami; NABLI, Mustapha.K. Income inequality in the Arab region: data and measurement, patterns and trends. Middle East Development Journal. v.1, n.2, p.275–314, 2009.
BREISINGER, Clemens; ECKER, Olivier; AL-RIFFAI, Perrihan. Economics of the Arab awakening: From revolution to tranformation and food security. International Food Policy Research Institute. Washington, DC, 2011
CAMMETT, Melani, SALTI, Nisreen. Popular grievances in the Arab region: evaluating explanations for discontent in the lead-up to the uprisings. Middle East Development Journal. v.10, n.1, p. 64-96, 2018.
CEDERMAN, Lars-Erik; GLEDITSCH, Kristian; BUHAUG, Halvard. Inequality, Grievances, and Civil War. Cambride: Cambride University Press, 2013.
DE CHÂTEL, Francesa. The Role of Drought and Climate Change in the Syrian Uprising: Untangling the Triggers of the Revolution. Middle Eastern Studies. v.50, n.4, p.521–535, 2014.
DEVARAJAN, Shantayanan; IANCHOVICHINA, Elena. A Broken Social Contract, Not High Inequality, Led to the Arab Spring. Review of Income and Wealth. v.64, n.1, p.5-25, 2018.
DRYSDALE, Alasdair. The Regional Equalization of Health Care and Education in Syria since the Ba'thi Revolution. International Journal of Middle East Studies. v.13, n.1, p.93-111, 1981.
DYRSTAD, Karin; HILLESUND, Solveig. Explaining Support for Political Violence: Grievance and Perceived Opportunity. Journal of Conflict Resolution. v.64, n.9, p.1724-1753, 2020.
GIMPELSON, Vladimir; TREISMAN Daniel. Misperceiving inequality. Economics & Politics. V.30, p.27–54, 2018.
GLASMAN, Wladmir. Les Ressources sécuritaires du regime. In: BURGAT, François; PAOLI, Bruno. Pas de Printemps pour la Syrie, 2013.
GOLDEN, Robert. Housing, Inequality, and Economic Change in Syria. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. v.38, n.2, p.187-202, 2011.
GOLDSMITH, Leon. Cycle of Fear: Syria's Alawites in War and Peace. London: Hurst & Company, 2015.
GURR, Ted. Why Minorities Rebel: a global analysis of communal mobilization and conflict since 1945. International Political Science Review. V.14, p.161-201, 1993.
HADDAD, Bassam. Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012.
HANIEH, Adam. Lineages of revolt: Issues of contemporary capitalism in the Middle East. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2013
HARB, Charles. Developing a Social Cohesion Index for the Arab Region. Amman: United Nations Development Programme Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS), 2017.
HARRIGAN, Jane. The Political Economy of Arab Food Sovereignty. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
HASSINE, Nadia Belhaj. Economic Inequality in the Arab Region. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper. n. 6911, 2014.
link: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2895368
HILLESUND, Solveig; BAHGAT, Karim; BARRETT, Gray; DUPUY, Kendra; GATES, Scott; MOKLEIV, Håvard Nygård; RUSTAD, Siri Aas; STRAND, Håvard; URDAL, Henrik, OSTBY, Gudrun. Horizontal inequality and armed conflict: a comprehensive literature review. Canadian Journal of Development Studies. v.39, n.4, p.463–480, 2018.
HINNEBUSCH, Raymond. Syria: from 'authoritarian upgrading' to revolution? International Affairs. v.88, n.1, p.95-113, 2012.
JOHNSTONE, Sarah; MAZO, Jeffrey. Global warming and the Arab spring. Survival. v.53, n.2, p.11-17, 2011.
KASHAN, Hilal. The eclipse of Arab authoritarianism and the challenge of popular sovereignty. Third World Quarterly. v.33, n.5, p.919–930, 2012.
KASTRINOU, Maria A. Power, Sect & State in Syria: the politics of marriage & identity amongst the Druze. London: I. B. Tauris, 2016.
KHOURY, Philip S. Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920-1945. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1987.
KOROTAYEV, Andrey V.; SHISHKINA, Alisa R. Relative Deprivation as a Factor of Sociopolitical Destabilization: Toward a Quantitative Comparative Analysis of the Arab Spring Events. Cross-Cultural Research. v.54, n.1-2, p. 296–318, 2019.
LANGER, Arnim. BROWN, Graham K. Cultural. Cultural Status Inequalities: An Important Dimension of Group Mobilization. In: STEWART, Frances (ed.) Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
LANGER, Arnim; MIKAMI, Satoru. The Relationship between Objective and Subjective Horizontal Inequalities: Evidence from Five African Countries. In: MINE, Yoichi; STEWART, Frances; FUKUDA-PARR, Sakiko; MKANDAWIRE, Thandika (ed.). Preventing Violent Conflict in Africa: Inequalities, Perceptions and Institutions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
LANGER, Arnim. STEWART, Frances. SMEDTS, Cristien; DEMAREST, Leila. Conceptualising and measuring social cohesion in Africa: Towards a perceptions-based index. Social Indicators Research. v.131, n.1, p.321-343, 2017.
LAWSON, George. Revolution, non-violence, and the Arab Uprisings. Mobilization: An International Quarterly. v.20, n.4, p.453-470, 2015.
MATAR, Linda. Macroeconomic Framework in Pre-conflict Syria. In: MATAR, Linda; KADRI, Ali (ed.). Syria: from national independence to proxy war. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
MIODOWNIK, Dan; NIR, Lilach. Receptivity to Violence in Ethnically Divided Societies: A Micro-Level Mechanism of Perceived Horizontal Inequalities. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. v.39, n1, p.22–45, 2016.
MUST, Elise; RUSTAD, Siri Aas. "Mtwara will be the New Dubai": dashed expectations, grievances, and civil unrest in Tanzania. International Interactions. v.45, n.3, p.500-531, 2019.
NASSER, Rabie; MEHCHY, Mehchy; ABU ISMAIL, Khalid. Socioeconomic roots and impacts of the Syrian crisis. Syrian Center for Policy Research. january, 2012.
NASSIF, Hicham Bou. 'Second-Class': the grievances of Sunni officers in the Syrian Armed Forces. Journal of Strategic Studies. v.38, n.5, p.626-649, 2015.
ØSTBY, Gudrun. Polarization, Horizontal Inequalities and Violent Civil Conflict. Journal of Peace Studies. v.45, n.2, p.143-162, 2008.
ØSTBY, Gudrun. Inequality and political violence: A review of the literature. International Area Studies Review. V.16, n.2, p. 206–231, 2013.
PHILLIPS, Christopher Phillips. Sectarianism and conflict in Syria. Third World Quarterly. V.36, n.2, p.357-376, 2015.
RABO, Annika. Conviviality and Conflict in Contemporary Aleppo. In: LONGAVA, Anh Nga; ROALD, Anne Sofie (ed.). Religious Minorities in the Middle East: domination, self-empowerment, accommodation. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
SALAMANDRA, Christa. Sectarianism in Syria: Anthropological Reflections. Middle East Critique. V.22, n.3, P.303-306, 2013.
SAOULI, Adham. The tragedy of Ba'thist state-building. In: HINNEBUSCH, Raymond A.; IMADY, Omar (ed.). The Syrian Uprising: domestic origins and early trajectory. Abingdon: Rouledge, 2018
SCHWARZ, Norbert. Cognitive Aspects of Survey Methoodology. Applied Cognitive Psychology. v.21, p.227-287, 2007.
SCHWEDLER, Jillian. (2010). Amman cosmopolitan: Spaces and practices of aspiration and consumption. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. v.30, n.3, p.547–562, 2010.
SIMON, Bernd. KLANDERMANS, Bert. Politicized Collective Identity: a social psychological analysis. American Psychologist. V.56, n.4, p.319-331, 2001.
SIROKY, David; WARNER, Carolyn M.; FILIP-CRAWFORD, Gabrielle; BERLIN, Anna; NEUBERG, Steven L. Grievances and rebellion: Comparing relative deprivation and horizontal inequality. Conflict Management and Peace Science. v.37, n.6, 694-715, 2020.
STEWART, Frances. LANGER, A. Horizontal Inequalities: explaining persistence and change. In: STEWART, Frances (ed). Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: understanding group violence in Multiethnic Societies. London: Palgrave, 2008.
TAJFEL, Henri. Social Identity and Intergroup Behavior. Social Science Information. v.13, n.2, p.65-93, 1974.
THE DAY AFTER. Sectarianism in Syria: survey study. The Day After website, 2016
Retreived from: http://tda-sy.org/en/publications/english-sectarianism-in-syriasurvey-study.html
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Prof. Danny Zahreddine, Prof. Guilherme Di Lorenzo Pires

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
a. Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right to first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which allows its use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, as well as its transformation and creations from it, as long as the original author and source are credited. Also, the material cannot be used for commercial purposes, and if it is transformed, or used as a basis for other creations, these must be distributed under the same license as the original.
b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
c. Authors are allowed to deposit, in the repositories accepted by Conjuntura Austral, the preprint version of the manuscripts submitted to the journal prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access)
d. Authors are permitted and encouraged to publish and distribute online (in institutional and /or thematic repositories, on their personal pages, etc.) the postprint version of the manuscripts (accepted and published), without an embargo period.
e. Conjuntura Austral: Journal of the Global South, imbued with the spirit of ensuring the protection of regional academic and scientific production in Open Access, is a signatory to the Mexico Declaration on the use of the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license to guarantee the protection of academic and scientific production in open access.