Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world
In-Person
Study Group
MEI Study Group: What Is Syria Transitioning To? The Choices That Shape a New State
Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students
This Middle East Initiative Study Group examines Syria's ongoing transition, asking broader questions about how political order is reconstructed after conflict, what concepts such as legitimacy, stability, inclusion, and state capacity mean in practice, and what happens when progress in one area comes at the expense of another.
Applications to attend are due September 20 - read on for more details.
Syria’s transition is unfolding in real time, with fundamental questions about the country’s political order still unsettled. How should we understand a transition before we know where it leads? What do concepts such as legitimacy, stability, inclusion, and state capacity mean in practice, and what happens when progress in one comes at the expense of another?
This five-session study group draws on recent research visits to Syria and combines close discussion of current developments and emerging dynamics with broader questions about how political order is reconstructed after conflict. Participants will work through some of the choices shaping Syria’s transition: which problems a transitional government should try to solve and which it may have to live with; how much of the old state should be preserved or replaced; the relationship between state-building and nation-building; and how regional and international actors should respond to or seek to shape the transition. Through short briefings, discussion, and interactive exercises, participants will consider how they would respond to these dilemmas, examine what Syrian decision-makers have actually done, and assess those choices after exploring the constraints, trade-offs, and reasoning behind them.
Participation
The Study Group will be open by application for up to 30 Harvard students and fellows.
Selected participants will be expected to attend all sessions and engage actively in the deliberations.
This study group will take place over five sessions on Mondays, 4:30pm-6:00pm:
September 28
October 5
October 19
October 26
November 2
About the Instructor
Ibrahim Al-Assil is a Senior Research Fellow at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School, and the project lead of MEI's Syria Transition Lab. His work examines geopolitics, governance, and state building in the Gulf and Levant; and bridges academic research, policy, and practice, informed by his engagement in conflict resolution, regional Track II dialogues, and grassroots movements. He holds a Doctor of International Affairs (DIA) from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a Master in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard Kennedy School, an MBA from the University of Essex.
