Rethinking Stabilization in Eastern Syria: Toward a Human Security Framework

As the United States faces important decisions regarding its future role in Syria’s conflict, a new Atlantic Council report by Dr. Steven Heydemann, “Rethinking Stabilization in Eastern Syria: Toward a Human Security Framework,” provides important context, analysis, and strategic policy recommendations

Authoritarian Learning

Authoritarian learning plays an increasingly important role in global processes of autocratization and democratic backsliding yet remains understudied and undertheorized. This chapter reviews conditions that elevate the role of authoritarian learning in the international system. It assesses the state of research with a focus on definitional debates concerning what authoritarian learning is and is not. In contrast to more restrictive definitions, the chapter presents an expansive definition of authoritarian learning as a process in which autocratic actors assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of ideas, rules, norms, and practices based on their observed utility. It argues that such processes are evident in both authoritarian and democratic regimes, and operate at the domestic, regional, and international levels. Turning to research horizons in the study of authoritarian learning, it advocates for comparative work that will shed light on specific mechanisms and causal pathways of authoritarian learning

After the Earthquake : Economic Governance and Mass Politics in the Arab World

The revolutionary wave that washed over the Arab world in 2011 swept away the rulers of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. This article compares the economic policies adopted by the various governments in response to popular dissatisfaction, finding significant similarities between post-authoritarian transition regimes and authoritarian survivors . Both have relied on a similar mix of economic strategies : a temporary increase in redistribution, direct monetary transfers to what are deemed politically useful sections of the population and an ongoing commitment to preuprising policies of reduced social spending and economic liberalization. This convergence runs counter to expectations that elected transitional governments would be more responsive than their authoritarian predecessors to mass demands for social and economic justice. It also undermines the notion that these authoritarian regimes are inflexible and so unable to adapt their policies to changing circumstances

The Syrian Conflict: Proxy War, Pyrrhic Victory, and Power Sharing Agreements

The Syrian conflict presents as a case that has been well-studied in the power-sharing literature. It is typically coded as an ethno-sectarian civil war moving towards a decisive military victory by an authoritarian regime and thus unlikely to end in a power-sharing agreement. Yet Syria’s experience offers important insights into the effects of new conflict environments on prospects for power-sharing in ‘hard’ cases. Syria’s conflict exhibits attributes and is unfolding in an environment that requires rethinking simplistic correlations between the military and political outcomes of civil wars. Moreover, the form of political settlement that emerges in Syria may also complicate assumptions about the ability of victors to shape the terms of post war settlements unilaterally. Whether a power-sharing agreement is reached in Syria – however remote the prospects for that might be – will be determined by factors that underscore the impact changing conflict contexts can have on how civil wars end

Making Sense of the Arab State

Book abstract: No region in the world has been more hostile to democracy, more dominated by military and security institutions, or weaker on economic development and inclusive governance than the Middle East. Why have Arab states been so oppressively strong in some areas but so devastatingly weak in others? How do those patterns affect politics, economics, and society across the region? The state stands at the center of the analysis of politics in the Middle East, but has rarely been the primary focus of systematic theoretical analysis. Making Sense of the Arab State brings together top scholars from diverse theoretical orientations to address some of the most critically important questions facing the region today. The authors grapple with enduring questions such as the uneven development of state capacity, the failures of developmentalism and governance, the centrality of regime security and survival concerns, the excesses of surveillance and control, and the increasing personalization of power. Making Sense of the Arab State will be a must-read for scholars of the Middle East and of comparative politics more broadly. Source: Publisherhttps://scholarworks.smith.edu/mes_books/1000/thumbnail.jp

Sovereignty versus Sectarianism: Contested Norms and the Logic of Regional Conflict in the Greater Levant

The Middle East is experiencing an extended period of turmoil and violent conflict. Two main explanations exist to account for heightened levels of conflict and competition. The first attributes current conditions to the intensification of sectarian polarization in the Arab east; regional dynamics are best explained by identity politics, which serve as instruments of sectarian regimes. The second attributes current conditions to state weakness; states in the Arab east are fragile, lacking effective institutions and suffering from a deficit of legitimacy, allowing state elites to govern in ways that exacerbate social cleavages. We view both these arguments as insufficient to explain patterns and trends in regional conflict across the greater Levant and the Arab east. Instead, we argue that current regional dynamics are best explained in terms of competition to determine whether a regional security order will be governed by the norm of sovereignty or the norm of sectarianism. This struggle plays out in an environment of normative fragmentation, where neither norm is hegemonic. It is unfolding most directly through violent confrontations within states that contain multi-confessional societies and exhibit high levels of cross-border intervention. Orta Doğu, uzun süredir bir karmaşa ve şiddetli çatışma dönemiyle karşılaşma devam etmektedir. Artan çatışma ve rekabet seviyesini anlamada için iki temel yaklaşıma başvurulmaktadır: İlk yaklaşım açıklamasını, mevcut sorunları doğuda kalan Arap coğrafyasında şiddetlenen mezhepçi kutuplaşmaya dayandırmaktadır. Bu yaklaşıma göre bölgesel dinamikler en iyi şekilde, mezhepçi rejimlerin de aracı olarak kullandıkları kimlik politikalarıyla açıklanabilir. İkinci yaklaşım ise sorunların kaynağını devletin zayıflığına dayandırmaktadır. Bu yaklaşıma bu coğrafyadaki devletlerin kırılgan yapısı, etkili kurumların bulunmaması ve meşruiyet açığı sorunu elitlerinin devleti sosyal bölünmeyi artıran yöntemlerle yönetmelerine imkân tanımaktadır. Bu makale, her iki argümanın da Geniş Levant bölgesi ve doğudaki Arap coğrafyasında yaşanan bölgesel çatışmaların şeklini ve eğilimleri açıklamada yetersiz kaldığını savunmaktadır. Mevcut bölgesel dinamiklerin, bölgesel güvenlik düzeninin egemenlik normuyla mı yoksa mezhepçilik normuyla mı idare edileceği bağlamında ortaya çıkan rekabet ile en iyi şekilde açıklanacağı değerlendirilmektedir. Bu mücadele hiçbir normun egemen olmadığı normatif bir bölünme ortamında devam etmektedir. Bu durum, çoğunlukla farklı dini inanışlara sahip toplumları içinde barındıran ve yüksek seviyede sınırötesi müdahalelere sebep olan devletlerde ortaya çıkan şiddetli çatışmalarla gözler önüne serilmektedir

Authoritarian Regime Learning: Comparative Insights from the Arab Uprisings

This paper examines the learning of authoritarian regimes in the early phase of the Arab uprisings. Differentiating conceptually between learning and policy change, we analyze and compare the authoritarian regimes of Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, and Syria and their reactions to the challenge of "late riser" oppositional protests. We first show that the four regimes initiated very diverse measures in the domains of repression, material co-optation, and legal reforms. With regard to the sources of learning, we find that proximity is a determining factor, in terms of both geography and political similarity. Using the case of Bahrain, we then demonstrate that structural factors such as internal power structures, regional and international pressures, or state capacity can decisively constrain the implementation of learning-induced policy change. Overall, the paper aims to contribute to the emerging research on the international dimension of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and beyond

Clinical features and disease progression in older individuals with Rett syndrome

Although long-term survival in Rett syndrome (RTT) has been observed, limited information on older people with RTT exists. We hypothesized that increased longevity in RTT would be associated with genetic variants i

Anthropometric Measures Correspond with Functional Motor Outcomes in Females with Rett Syndrome

Objective: To characterize growth and anthropometric measurements in females with Rett syndrome and compare these measurements with functional outcomes. Study design: We obtained longitudinal growth and anthropometric measurements from 1154 females with classic and atypical Rett syndrome seen between 2006 and 2019 in the US Natural History Study. We calculated the Clinical Severity Score, Motor Behavior Assessment score, and arm and leg muscle areas and recorded the functional assessments of arm and hand use and ambulation. We compared growth and anthropometric variables from females with Rett syndrome in regard to normative data. We analyzed Clinical Severity Score, Motor Behavior Assessment, and anthropometric measurements in regard to functional assessments. Results: Growth and anthropometric measurements were significantly lower in females with classic and severe atypical Rett syndrome compared with those classified as mild atypical Rett syndrome and deviated from normative patterns among all 3 groups. Suprailiac skinfold measurements correlated with body mass index measurements in each group. Lower leg muscle area measurements were significantly greater among females in all 3 Rett syndrome groups who ambulated independently compared with those who did not. In females with classic Rett syndrome, arm, thigh, and lower leg muscle area measurements increased significantly over time and were significantly greater among those who had purposeful arm and hand use and independent ambulation compared with those who did not. Conclusions: The pattern of growth and anthropometric measures in females with Rett syndrome differs from normative data and demonstrates clear differences between classic and mild or severe atypical Rett syndrome. Anthropometric measures correspond with functional outcomes and could provide markers supporting efficacy outcomes in clinical trials