In 2010, a wave of popular protest swept the Middle East, the so-called “Arab Spring." In Tunisia and Egypt, these popular rebellions resulted in the ousting of long-standing dictatorships. However, in Syria, the protest movement that began in 2011 against the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, resulted in a brutal civil war that continues to this day. But what were the causes of this civil war? How has it shaped Middle Eastern and global affairs? And why has it lasted so long with no end seemingly in sight?
Fabrice Balanche is a geographer and specialist in the geopolitics of the Middle East who has taught in France. He was also affiliated with the think-tank Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Hoover Institute at Stanford University. He is the author of several books on Middle Eastern geography and the Syrian Civil War.
