Abstract
In the early months of 2011 the Syrian regime answered demonstrations and protests, escalating from mid-March, with armed retaliation and later on with an extremely violent civil war fought by the Syrian army, secret services, and regime-loyal militias against uncoordinated groups of anti-regime fighters. This reality led a number of both international and regional state actors to impose a wide range of sanctions against Syria, with the intention of weakening the regime in Damascus or contributing to a regime change. The sanctions thus became a part of attempts at influencing political transformation processes in the Middle East region following the uprisings there. For the most significant international actors, the United States and the European Union (EU), the sanctions intended to affect the regime in a “rogue” Syrian state, which for decades had been on a collision course with the United States and which the EU had not been able to involve in its Neighborhood Policy agreements. For the regional actors, first of all the League of Arab States (Arab League) and Turkey, the sanctions became an element in the power struggle in the region.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abboud, S. (2013) Syria’s Business Elite. Between Political Alignment and Hedging Their Bets. SWP Comments. 22, available at: http://www.swp-berlin.org/fileadmin/contents/products/comments/2013C22_abo.pdf, last accessed January 31, 2015.
Baldwin, D. A. (1999/2000) The Sanctions Debate and the Logic of Choice. International Security. 24 (3), 80–107.
Blanchard, C. M., Humud, C. E., and Nikitin, M. B. D. (2014) Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response. CRS Report, available at: www.crs.gov, RL33487, last accessed January 31, 2015.
Blanche, E. (2014) Lebanon on the Edge. The Middle East. April (453), 12–16.
Blockmans, S. (2012) Preparing for a Post-Assad Syria: What Role for the European Union? CEPS Commentary. Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies.
Buckley, C. A. (2012) Learning from Libya, Acting in Syria. Journal of Strategic Security. 5 (2), 81–104.
Burch, J. (2011) Turkish PM Calls on Syria’s Assad to Quit. Reuters, Novemb er 22, 2011, available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/22/us-turkey-syria-idUSTRE7AL0WJ20111122, last accessed January 31, 2015.
Chesterman, S. and Pouligny, B. (2003) Are Sanctions Meant to Work? The Politics and Implementing Sanctions through the United Nations. Global Governance. 9, 503–18.
Cornell, S. E. (2012) Changes in Turkey. What Drives Turkish Foreign Policy? Middle East Quarterly. 19 (1), 13–24.
Drezner, D. W. (2000) Bargaining, Enforcement, and Multilateral Sanctions: When Is Cooperation Counterproductive? International Organization. 54 (1), 73–102.
Drezner, D. W. (2011) Sanctions Sometimes Smart: Targeted Sanctions in Theory and Practice. International Studies Review. 13, 96–108.
Droubi, H. and Gladstone, R. (2013) Syrian Opposition Joins Meeting of Arab League. New York Times. March 26.
EEAS. (2014) The EU and Syria. Fact Sheet. Brussels: European Union External Action, December 15, 2014, available at: http://www.eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/2014/141215_01_en.htm, last accessed January 31, 2015.
Elliott, K. A. (1998) The Sanctions Glass: Half Full or Completely Empty. International Security. 23 (1), 50–65.
EU-Commission (2011) Council Regulation (EU) No 442/2011 of 9 May 2011 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria, May 9, 2011, available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meet-docs/2009_2014/documents/droi/dv/201/201105/20110526_603co uncilreg_en.pdf, last accessed January 31, 2015.
EU-Council (2012) Council Conclusions on Syria, 3191st Foreign Affairs Council Meeting. Press Realease, October 15, 2012, available at: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_PRES-12–419_en.htm?locale=en, last accessed January 31, 2015.
EU-Council (2013) Council Eases Sanctions against Syria to Support Opposition and Civilians. Brussels: European Union, April 22, 2013, available at: http://eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_13421_en.htm, last accessed January 31, 2015.
EU-Council (2014) EU Reinforces Sanctions against Syrian Regime. Press Release, St. 12023/14, Presse 409. Brussels: European Union, July 22, 2014, available at: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/144077.pdf, last accessed January 31, 2015.
EU-Union (2011) Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on restrictive measures against Syria. 9912/1/11 REV 1. PRESSE 125. Brussels: European Union, May 9, 2011, available at: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/cfsp/121898.pdf, last accessed January 31, 2015.
EU-Union (2013) Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 790/2013 implementing Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism, and repealing Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1169/2012, July 25, 2013, available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32014R0790, last accessed January 31, 2015.
Filiu, J. P. (2013) How the West should Stop Crippling the Syrian Opposition. Op-Med. Washington: The German Marshall Fund of the United States, November 1–3.
Giumelli, F. and Ivan, P. (2013) The Effectiveness of EU Sanctions. An Analysis of Iran, Belarus, Syria and Myanmar (Burma). EPC. 76, 1–45.
Güney, N. A. (2013) A New Challenge for Turkey: Civil War in Syria. Insight Turkey. 15 (4), 51–9.
Heydemann, S. and Leenders, R. (2011) Authoritarian Learning and Authoritarian Resilience: Regime Responses to the ‘Arab Awakening’. Globalizations. 8 (5), 647–53.
Heydemann, S. and Leenders, R. (2013) Middle East Authoritarianisms. Governance, Contestation, and Regime Resilience in Syria and Iran (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press).
Hudson, M. C. ed. (1999) Middle East Dilemma. The Politics and Economics of Arab Integration (London: I.B. Tauris).
Landis, J. (2012) The Syrian Uprising of 2011: Why the Asad Regime Is Likely to Survive to 2013. Journal of Democracy. 19 (1), 72–84.
Laub, Z. and Masters, J. (2013) Backgrounder. Syria’s Crisis and the Global Response. Council on Foreign Relations. Washington, September 11, 2013, available at: http://www.cfr.org/syria/syrias-crisis-global-response/p28402, last accessed January 31, 2015.
Lesch, D. W. (2013) The Unknown Future of Syria. Mediterranean Politics. 18 (1), 97–103.
Lyme, R. F. (2012) Sanctioning Assad’s Syria. Mapping the Economic, Socioeconomic and Political Repercussions of the International Sanctions Imposed on Syria since March 2011. DIIS Report. 2012 (13).
Maddy-Weitzman, B. (2012) The Arab League Comes Alive. Middle East Quarterly. 19 (3), 71–8.
Maller, T. (2010) Diplomatic Sanctions as a U.S. Foreign Policy Tool: Helpful or Harmful. Political Science and Politics. 43 (4), 826–27.
Nepstad, S. E. (2013) Mutiny and Nonviolence in the Arab Spring: Exploring Military Defections and Loyalty in Egypt, Bahrain, and Syria. Journal of Peace Research. 50 (3), 337–49.
Niblock, T. (2001) Pariah States and Sanctions in the Middle East: Iraq, Libya, Sudan (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers).
Nye, J. S. (2011) Syria Can Prove that Sanctions Do Work. F inancial Times, June 8, 2011, available at: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0feca8e0–9215-11e0–9e00–00144feab49a.html#axzz3Zoh9FLr9, last accessed January 31, 2015.
Önis, Z. (2012) Turkey and the Arab Spring: Between Ethics and Self-Interest. Insight Turkey. 14 (3), 45–63.
Önis, Z. (2014) Turkey and the Arab Revolutions: Boundaries of Regional Power Influence in a Turbulent Middle East. Mediterranean Politics. 19 (2), 203–19.
Pape, R. (1998) Why Economic Sanctions Still Do Not Work. International Security. 23 (1), 66–77.
Perthes, V. (ed. 2004) Arab Elites. Negotiating the Politics of Change (Boulder, CO and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers).
Phillips, C. (2012) Into the Quagmire: Turkey’s Frustrated Syria Policy. Chatham House Briefing Paper. 2012 (4), 1–16.
Portela, C. (2012) The EU’s Sanctions against Syria: Conflict Management by Other Means. UNISCI Discussion Papers. 30, 151–8.
Seeberg, P. (2015) The EU and the Syrian Crisis: The Use of Sanctions and the Regime’s Strategy for Survival. Mediterranean Politics. 20 (1), 18–35.
Sharp, J. M. (2011) Unrest in Syria and U.S. Sanctions Against the Asad Regime. CRS Report for Congress. Washington: Congressional Research Service, available at: http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organiza-tion/171370.pdf, last accessed January 31, 2015.
Stack, L. (2011) Isolating Syria, A rab League Imposes Broad Sanct ions. New York Times. November 27.
Thomas, A. (2013) “Pariah States” and Sanctions: The Case of Syria. Middle East Policy. 20 (3), 27–40.
United Nations Security Counsil (2013) Resolution 2118 (2013): Adopted by the Security Council at its 7038th meeting. September 27, 2013, available at: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N13/489/23/PDF/N1348923.pdf?OpenElement, last accessed January 31, 2015.
Zisser, E. (2012) The ‘Struggle for Syria’: Return to the Past? Mediterranean Politics. 17 (1), 105–10.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2016 Peter Seeberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Seeberg, P. (2016). The Crisis in Syria, International and Regional Sanctions, and the Transformation of the Political Order in the Levant. In: Beck, M., Jung, D., Seeberg, P. (eds) The Levant in Turmoil. The Modern Muslim World. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137526021_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137526021_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57628-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52602-1
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)