PeaceRep has published a new series of policy briefs on the challenges of borders and conflict lines, free movement, and humanitarian aid delivery in Syria.
The Navigating Fragmentation series was developed by Juline Beaujouan (University of Edinburgh) in collaboration with independent researchers based inside and around Syria.
A series of blogs authored by the researchers, on these topics and other challenges for peace in Syria, have also been published.
Navigating Fragmentation: New Policy Briefs and Perspectives on Syria
Policy Briefs – Navigating Fragmentation
Authors: Juline Beaujouan, Principal Investigator, and collaborators (in alphabetical order); Muhannad al-Rish, Abdallah El hafi, Eyas Ghreiz, and Ayham Odat
- Humanitarian aid, borders and conflict lines
- Improving free movement in Northwest Syria
- Improving free movement in Daraa
Blogs
- Syria and the Politics of the Earthquakes | تحميل عربي – Juline Beaujouan
- Humanitarian Aid and Peace in Syria: An Intricate Relationship | تحميل عربي – Juline Beaujouan
- Negotiating Humanitarian Aid with Armed Groups: Humanitarian Imperative or Red Line? | تحميل عربي – Juline Beaujouan
- Why the Daraa Reconciliation Agreement Cannot Build Peace | تحميل عربي – Muhannad al-Rish
- The Impact of Community Leaders on Social Peace in Northern Syria | تحميل عربي – Abdalghader Haj Othman
- The Syrian Conflict and the Loss of National Identity | تحميل عربي – Areefa Abdel Hamid al-Mousa
- The Drug Trade in Syria Threatens Regional Peace – Eyas Ghreiz
Research Project and the Syrian Context
Over a decade of violent conflict has left deep scars on the Syrian socio-political and geographical landscape. The country is fragmented into four governance and territorial entities, and communities are divided by conflict lines. Yet, global challenges – such as the Syrian refugee crisis, the threat posed by transnational radical groups, and most recently the Covid-19 pandemic – do not stop at borders. Identifiable “fragments” do not operate in complete isolation and are indeed inter-dependant.
The Navigating Fragmentation series of policy briefs has been developed from findings of a research project that focused on the ever-evolving and interactive process of fragmentation, looking at dynamics of “rebordering” (Vignal, 2017) during and after the Covid-19 pandemic in Syria.
The project involved 84 interviews conducted in September 2022 and March 2023 in Syria – in northern Aleppo, Idlib and Daraa governorates – and in neighbouring countries, notably Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. Interviewees included international and local civil society members, governance stakeholders, medical professionals, and military personnel.
The policy briefs are also part of the PeaceRep-led Covid Collective project, Interactive Fragmentation: Peace Routes and Roots for Peace in Syria.
Explore all PeaceRep research on Covid-19
Syrian Perspectives on Syrian Peace
Three of the blogs published in this series were developed within the framework of the research project, Syrian Peace: Delocalised, Imposed and Illegitimate?, led by Juline Beaujouan. The project involved training a number of students and young professionals in academic research and writing skills, with the aim of promoting self-empowerment of Syrian local voices. Blogs developed as part of this project were authored by Muhannad al-Rish, Abdalghader Haj Othman, and Areefa Abdel Hamid al-Mousa.
Learn more
If you have further questions on these policy briefs, blogs, or research projects, please contact Juline Beaujouan: J.Beaujouan-Marliere@ed.ac.uk
PeaceRep’s Syria research explores opportunities for peace, conflict resolution and civicness, and the potential of multiple vectors – including Covid-19, the private sector, humanitarian aid, technology, and existing local practices – to contribute to peaceful pathways out of conflict.
Explore all PeaceRep research on Syria
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