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Syrian Civil Society: Free or Controlled?

By Joshua Branch Non-Western Societies Tutorial Civil society is often viewed as a stepping-stone to creating a liberal democratic society. There are many characteristics of a liberal democracy that can be traced back simply to a robust civil society including but not limited to critiques of the government, the ability to express oneself without fear of punishment, the ability to protest and organize in a peaceful fashion. Simply put, civil societies are the channel from which ideology and critiques are expressed to government and where citizens attempt to better their government and society for the future of the state. Many states worldwide that are considered successful have robust civil societies. Conversely, many states worldwide that do not have robust civil societies are sometimes argued to be state failures. But in the Middle East and North Africa how robust is civil society? This essay will access the climate of civil society in the Middle Eastern state of Syria and determined whether or not a free civil society exists or whether it is a controlled civil society. The primary issue of this essay is determining what kind of civil society exists in Syria. For the purpose of this essay, one must look at civil society in two formsa civil society that is free and one that is controlled. In reality, there is no such thing as a 100% free civil society, after all governments must control certain organizations or groups that could be considered members of civil society yet violent or potentially cause physical harm to citizens. In essence a 100% free civil society is one of anarchy.

Yet some states are capable of having relatively free civil societies in that organizations or groups can protest, demonstrate or critique without fear of violence, arrest or execution so long as they do not cause harm or violence to the general public. In contrast, other states have controlled civil societies. That is to say opinions, goals or ideologies that may run counter to the government will be censored primarily by violence. The main attribute that determines whether or not a civil society is free or controlled is primarily the response of the government. Will the response by the government be one of relative passiveness, allowing those to demonstrate without using violence to oppress or will the response from the government be of automatic violence if the viewpoints run counter to the administration? The Syrian government has seen consistent stability since Hafez al-Assad took over in the early 1970s. Much of Hafez al-Assads time as president was spent keeping political opposition in line. In 1982, Hafez al-Assad approved of a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama. This crackdown was said to have resulted in thousands of Syrian civilians death (BBC, 2011, 1). Hafez al-Assad created an environment of controlled civil society, opinions that supported his claims or was pro-al-Assad was approved and could be shared. Those that were anti-al-Assad were controlled, primarily through gunfire and political imprisonment. When Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, the presidency was vacant. His son, Basahr al-Assad would take over as president in a pseudo-democratic fashion. Bashar al-Assad started his presidency in a contrasting fashion then his fathers. Bashar al-Assad introduced political reforms and economic reforms to take place that would have potentially created the openness to allow for a free civil society to grow.

However, al-Assads government would eventually reverse several of the political reforms and essentially have a tighter grasp of Syrian society by crushing opposition often times by lethal force, holding political prisoners and discouraging options even within his own Baath party as he ran unopposed in his reelection (BBC, 2011, 1). The efficiency of this clamping down on potential free civil society has discouraged and spread fear into many Syrian citizens. Assads control of society in Syria is further fueled by his network connections through the military. Where as the military in Egypt can be seen as separate from the Mubarak regime, the military in Syria is ever connected to Assad. Assads father rose through the ranks to start a coup. His son also rose through the Syrian militarys ranks, meeting important generals and creating his own network. As Michael Broning states: So, unlike in Tunisia and Egypt, where a professionally trained military tended to play an independent role, the regime and its loyal forces have been able to deter all but the most resolute and fearless oppositional activists. In this respect, the situation in Syria is to a certain degree comparable to Saddam Husseins strong Sunni minority rule in Iraq, (Broning, 2011, 1). What has kept the Syrian government stable, more specifically al-Assads rule in tact, has been the ability to violently oppress any sense of an opposing civil society or any thought processes that runs counter to al-Assads rule. This can be seen more recently in the Syrian anti-government movements as the military has unleashed violence on protests. While the exact death toll numbers are disputed the numbers are still high. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 2,700 Syrian citizens have been killed since the protests started (Al Jazeera, 2011, 1) whereas over 3,000 Syrian

citizens have been killed since the protests started according to the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (The Times of India, 2011, 1). But while it can be established that any organization or group that can be categorized as a member of civil society against al-Assads ideology will be oppressed, what about those who work with the government? That is to say, arent those who support al-Assads administration a part of civil society? Isnt the Baath party an organization that can be grouped into the larger picture of civil society? Further, what about those groups or organizations that are in fact supported by al-Assads administrationarent they too members of civil society? The majority of this essay has highlighted those organizations or groups that run counter to al-Assads government, yet there are still organizations that run smoothly with al-Assads blessing, and this indeed is a part of civil society as they work for small groups or niche citizens and not necessarily the government. Groups that support al-Assads vision of a better Syria do exist and the Syrian government flaunts that to the international community to show that it is trying its best at gradually creating a free civil society. In January 2010 1,500 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were registered within Syria compared to 5,000 in neighboring Lebanon (Sinjab, 2010, 1). Syrias first lady, Asma al-Assad, has played a critical role within the NGO portion of civil society as the head of the Syria Trust for Development, which functions to encourage development of NGOs and civil society to be, a partner to the state and indispensable part of the development process, (Sinjab, 2010, 1). Additionally in 2010 the Syria Trust for Development held a conference entitled, The Emerging Role of Civil Society in Development, where 30 NGOs were invited to

discuss recent project and project goals (Syria Trust for Development, 2010, 1.) But one must remember that the NGOs selected for this conference have clear government support and were being watched over by a government official (al-Assads wife.) This creates less of an ideal civil society where suggestions are made to challenge government and create new ideas, but rather creates an environment where the state is funding and administrating the separate NGOs that make up the civil society. Additionally, this type of scenario breaks down the wall that is intended to separate civil society and the state in the first place. Civil society and the state themselves are intended to have a buffer between them. They arent exactly intended to work in complete unison or at a minimal the government should not be manipulating the civil society itself that then creates an inauthentic civil society. That is to say a civil society that is engineered to give a sense of freedom or suggestion to the government, but in reality is being controlled the entire time by the government itself. In conclusion, the government of Syria has created a controlled civil society climate. They have moderately liberalized by allowing civil society to exist at all, which is a step in creating a free civil society. Additionally the Syrian government has a stake in many of the NGOs they support. This controlling concern brings about the issue of how authentic the Syrian civil society actually is in the first place. Additionally, the manner in which they control the organizations or groups whom they disagree with is harsh and typically ends with public death, imprisonment or disappearance. In order for a free civil society to exist the government must allow NGOs who critique and disagree with government stances to voice their concerns and proposals for fixing the policies the NGOs disagree with. The purpose of civil society is to generate thought as to how the

society can improve; this includes both the positives and the negatives that occur in the state. With the recent violence in Syria over political protests it doesnt seem as though al-Assad is willing to cultivate a free civil society, but rather he is desperately trying to kill off (quite literally) anyone disagrees with his regimes stance. Word count 1,658

Works Cited: Work Cited: BBC. Syria Country Profile 2 August 2011, accessed 29 September 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/801669.stm#facts Work cited: Brning, Michael. The Sturdy House that Assad Built: Why Damascus is not Cairo 7 March 2011, accessed 29 September 2011. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67561/michael-broening/the-sturdy-house-thatassad-built Work Cited: Al Jazeera. UN: Syria Death Toll tops 2,700 19 September 2011, accessed 29 September 2011 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/09/201191922323444830.html Work Cited: The Times of India. Syria Death Toll tops 3,000: Rights Group Chief 11 September 2011, accessed 29 September 2011. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Syria-death-toll-tops-3000Rights-group-chief/articleshow/9939955.cms Work Cited: The Syria Trust for Development. The First International Development conference of Syria 2010: Emerging Role of Civil Society in Development 24 January 2010, accessed 29 September 2011. http://www.syriatrust.org/site/subwebsite/windex.php? websiteID=UCZAM05JYW0=&websiteLang=en Work Cited Sinjab, Lina. Is Syria Ready to Engage in NGOs? 24 January 2010, accessed 29 September 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8477748.stm

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