We have the pleasure to invite you to a conference given by Associate Prof. Zouhair Ghazzal (Dept of History, Loyola University, Chicago) on the Syrian wars of domination without hegemony.

The conference will take place at IFEA Conference Room
16 December 2014 at 18:30
Followed by a discussion conducted by Ass. Prof. Seda Altuğ (The Ataturk Institute for Modern Turkish History, Boğaziçi University).

Abstract:

Considering that the problems in Syrian society have been longue durée and chronic in their nature, it does not make much sense to look for any “beginning” of the current civil war in terms of deeply-seated causal elements. We relate the question of beginning to that of the imaginary: Syrians, like the rest of the Arabs, and the world at large, have been throughout 2011 consuming images of civil strife on their TV, computers, tablets and smartphone monitors. Such images have put on hold, at least temporarily, the authority and prestige of the state in the Arab world, the rule of dictators, as it is commonly known. Such prestige and authority is particularly vital for authoritarian, fascist, or totalitarian states and societies. That is to say, a great deal of what constitutes “society” does not come from its inner sense of “cohesion,” associations, cooperatives, chambers of commerce, trade, and labor, political parties, free elections, and vibrant parliamentarianism. By the 1960s, amid the failure of the Union with Egypt and the botched experience of the United Arab Republic (U.A.R.), Syria had set itself, to get out of its social and political crisis, at establishing, in line with neighboring Iraq and Egypt and other Arab states, a representative state without politics: an authoritarian dictatorship.

Zouhair Ghazzal is an Associate Professor of History at Loyola University Chicago where he teaches courses on Middle Eastern history, law, and contemporary global issues. His research interests encompass Modern history of Islam and Middle Eastern societies; Ottoman history; urban studies and Islamic law.

Seda Altuğ is an Assistant Professor at The Ataturk Institute for Modern Turkish History at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. She is a specialist of modern and contemporary Syria. Her research interests focus on the intricate relations between state and society; minorities and borders.