Leiden University Student Repository

Bulut, mehdi (2019)

What explains the hesitancy of the US involvement in the Syrian War?

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

This thesis analyzes the motives behind the hesitation of the American military interference in Syria to overthrow President Bashar al Assad. It provides a close focus on the role of global and regional actors in Syria. The research question of this paper is: What explains the hesitancy of the US involvement in the Syrian War? The research is focused on the red-line speech of President Obama to intervene in Syria and the following chemical weapon attack in Damascus. This study provides significant insight into the political relations between the US and Syria as well as the Syrian civil war. Many academic pieces of literature have been examined to combine valuable information about the power dynamics in the Middle East and their impact on the Syrian civil war. As a result, it is concluded that there are multiple causes behind the hesitancy of the US military intervention in Syria. These are listed as, the vetoes of Russia and China in the UN Security Council, the concern of non...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the motives behind the hesitation of the American military interference in Syria to overthrow President Bashar al Assad. It provides a close focus on the role of global and regional actors in Syria. The research question of this paper is: What explains the hesitancy of the US involvement in the Syrian War? The research is focused on the red-line speech of President Obama to intervene in Syria and the following chemical weapon attack in Damascus. This study provides significant insight into the political relations between the US and Syria as well as the Syrian civil war. Many academic pieces of literature have been examined to combine valuable information about the power dynamics in the Middle East and their impact on the Syrian civil war. As a result, it is concluded that there are multiple causes behind the hesitancy of the US military intervention in Syria. These are listed as, the vetoes of Russia and China in the UN Security Council, the concern of non-ending regional war, the economic, political and humanitarian costs of the war, the emergence of the radical groups and the absence of strong secular opposition, the concern of state of chaos after the intervention, minor factors like difficult geography, population and the advanced air defense of SyriaShow less

Syrian civil war

proxy wars

military intervention

US in the middle east

balance of power

international relations

Arab nationalism

Arab Spring

Jihadism

ISIS

Obama

Chemical Weapons

FSA

Bashar al Assad

Power transition

Israel

Sectarian

Author

Bulut, mehdi

Note

The thesis examines the role of the foreign actors in the Syrian war and the power dynamics in the middle east during the Syrian war. it focuses on the role of the US , Russia , Iran , Turkey, KSA, Qatar, ISIS, al Nusra , Hezbollah , and internal actors like SAA and FSA. As a result, depending on the developments during the Syrian civil war, the paper stresses that the world is moving from a unipolar power dynamics to multipolar order wherein the regional and emerging powers play a more intensive role.

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Middle East

Supervisors

Ennis, Crystal

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en