The Failure of Diplomacy and Protection in Syria

Summary, in English

This chapter argues that the international community’s response to the Syrian civil war was a failure of resolute diplomacy. It first recounts how a popular uprising was brutally suppressed by the Bashar al-Assad government’s military forces, sparking a ‘new war’ where many of the protagonists have more to gain from war than peace. It then considers the diplomatic strategies pursued by regional and global powers, as well as the leading players in the intervention and mediation process such as United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, UN diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, and Swedish-Italian diplomat Staffan de Mistura. It also discusses the use of crisis management and coercive diplomacy to enforce the Chemical Weapons Convention. The case of Syria illustrates how responsibility to protect (R2P) requires a strong consensus among the great powers to be effective.

• Author: Karin Aggestam; Tim Dunne
• Editor: Steve Smith; Amelia Hadfield; Timothy Dunne; Nicolas Kitche
• Department/s: Department of Political Science; Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES); MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World
• Publishing year: 2024-08-01
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases
• Document type: Book chapter
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Topic: Political Science
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISBN: 9780192863072